Conceptual Investigation Within Area of Responsible Research and Innovation

The aim of this paper is to contribute to the academic discussion on the proper understanding of the notions of responsibility and innovation. In recent years, the field of Responsible Research and Innovation has grown rapidly among academia and received considerable attention. One area of focus concerns the proper understanding of the notion of the terms themselves. They are especially problematic in light of the critique that the subject has already received (cf. Blok, Lemmens 2015). This article provides an answer to that critique and proposes an alternative approach to the notions discussed. On the one hand, it outlines the so called ambivalued notion of innovation (cf. Kawalec 2015) and on the other, it presents a four-point characteristic of responsibility relevant to the field of research and innovation. In the text, the term responsibility should be understood as collective, future-oriented, socio-political, and values-oriented.