Responsible innovation in the private sector: Foreword

Responsible Innovation is an emerging concept concerning the governance of socio-ethical aspects of research and innovation practices. Von Schomberg for instance defines responsible innovation as a ‘transparent, interactive process by which societal actors and innovators become mutually responsive to each other with a view to the (ethical) acceptability, sustainability and societal desirability of the innovation process and its marketable products (in order to allow a proper embedding of scientific and technological advances in our society)’ (Von Schomberg, 2013, p. 19). It originally emerged in the context of research policies as a result of societal concerns regarding publicly funded research in controversial technologies (cf. Stilgoe et al., 2013). Emerging technologies such as nanotechnologies, big data, alternative energy production and genomics have a history of dispute and societal debate about their ethical desirability, and raises the question whether public funding in research in the field of these controversial technological is political legitimate or not (Collingridge, 1980; Groves, 2006)