Responsible Research and Innovation: Economies of worth and situations of dissonance in the case of a new policy concept

Abstract

The notion of ‘Responsible Research and Innovation’ (RRI) has within the space of a few years gained increasing momentum in research and innovation policy discourse. This thesis looks into the case of the European Union, where the policy concept has gained particular traction. The role of documents is significant to the functioning of bureaucratic institutions, actively partaking in the assembling of policy agendas and initiatives. In inquiring into the case of the European Union, this thesis uses document analysis as method. This is done by a ‘methodological situationalism’, combining resources from Science and Technology Studies (STS) and the multidisciplinary field of valuation studies. The interest of this thesis is twofold. Firstly, it explores how RRI materialised in research and innovation policy by inquiring into the situations conditioning its emergence. Two situations are here considered. The first is one unfolding within the EU, concerned with assembling a ‘knowledge-based economy’ driven by research and innovation and of directing research and innovation toward tackling societal challenges. The second is one of decades of research on the science-society relation, unfolding particularly within the field of STS. The thesis finds that the emergence of RRI in EU policy can be understood as enabled by the interactions and overlap of these two discourses, creating a particular situation in which it could materialise as a relevant and desirable policy object. Secondly, this thesis explores how the RRI framework enables new valuation practices in research and innovation. This follows John Dewey’s pragmatic turn in approaching value(s), as qualities necessarily enacted or performed. The valuation literature is here drawn upon, particularly the concepts and tools of Luc Boltanski, Laurent Thévenot and David Stark. Valuation practices are approached by identifying two ‘orders of worth’ in action in the documents – a civic order and a market order – each with distinctive evaluative principles for assessing worth. The tensions arising as different and possibly incommensurable evaluative criteria coexist in the same situation are addressed, inquiring into the potentials for ‘dissonance’. The thesis finds that albeit conflicts due to such value system overlaps, there are potentials for fruitful and productive ‘recombinations’ in their interaction.