Responsible Research and Innovation and Its Implications for China

• Date: 01 November 2017
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/cwe.12224
• Author: Bing Han,Panpan Yang
• Published date: 01 November 2017

©2017 Institute of World Economics and Politics, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences

China & World Economy / 120–138, Vol. 25, No. 6, 2017

120

Responsible Research and Innovation

and Its Implications for China

Panpan Yang, Bing Han*

Abstract

Responsible research and innovation (RRI) represents a new evolving approach to

governing research and innovation that takes into account potential impacts on the

environment and society. Most published studies on RRI focus on the social benefits

of research and innovation through examining RRI’s definitions and approaches for

its implementation. In contrast, the present study addresses the influence of RRI on

economic growth, and discusses the situations in which RRI will benefit economies.

Our study nds that for its implementation to be successful, RRI needs to meet certain

conditions, and that its implementation is not always benecial to economic growth. To

achieve a better result from RRI as part of an innovation policy, each country should

balance the push and pull power of RRI to make sure that it becomes a building block

rather than a stumbling block for innovation, economic growth and social welfare. To

assure that RRI can be successfully implemented, China needs to strengthen and improve

the participation mechanisms for stakeholders in major scientific and technological

innovative activities.

Key words: China’s innovation policy, economic growth, responsible research and

innovation

JEL codes: C5, O4, O32, O38

I. Introduction

The story of the development of modern science and technology since the beginning

of the 20th century demonstrates that it does not necessarily bring happiness to society

when there is no proper assessments and public scrutiny for scientic and technological

innovations (Von Schomberg, 2013). Moreover, the negative consequences of modern

*Panpan Yang, Senior Research Fellow, Institute of World Economics and Politics (IWEP), Chinese

Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), China. Email: pamelapanda@126.com; Bing Han, Senior Research

Fellow, IWEP, CASS, China. Email: helenacass@163.com. Thanks to Julie Cook Lucas and Doris Schroeder

for editorial input and comments on an earlier draft. This article was written with support from the European

Community’s Seventh Framework Programme (Grant No. 321400) and the National Natural Science

Foundation (Grant No. 71503263).

©2017 Institute of World Economics and Politics, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences

Responsible Research and Innovation 121

science and technology are often unpredictable and unintended (Owen et al., 2012).

Against this background, a new developmental agenda of responsible research and

innovation (RRI) has been raised by high income economies, which provides an

operational route for sustainable development (Yan et al., 2014).

The concept of RRI has achieved “particular visibility and traction in an EU,

and specifically European Commission policy context” since 2011 (Owen et al.,

2012, p. 751). Although it is a new evolving concept, there is no consensus on the

definition of “responsible research and innovation,” and approaches to how RRI

should be implemented dier. For instance, the “Science with and for Society” (SwafS)

program developed the concept of RRI in Europe (Schroeder, 2015) dening RRI as

“an inclusive approach to research and innovation, to ensure that societal actors work

together during the whole research and innovation process” (SwafS, 2013). Stilgoe

et al. (2013) put forward the well-known four dimensions of responsible innovation,

which are anticipation, reection, inclusion and responsiveness. The basic idea of the

Stilgoe framework is to predict the direct and indirect effects of innovation and to

reect on the innovative subject’s own motivation, behavior and other assumptions. At

the same time, to deal with the issues arising during the innovation process, it calls for

more actors to be involved in the innovation process. Although there are dierences

among the explanations of RRI, they have similar elements, and all emphasize the

importance of stakeholders’ participation during the research and innovation process,

and that the outcomes of research and innovation should be able to benet society.

Furthermore, scholars argue that RRI is a comprehensive approach to achieve a better

alignment of research and innovation with societal needs; that is, RRI can steer the

innovation process towards societally benecial objectives (Von Schomberg, 2013).

China is currently at a critical stage in building a “moderately prosperous society,”

and eorts are being directed to deepen reforms. The role of science and technology in

economic and social development has never been so important for China’s economy.

How China can benet from innovation while reducing potential risks and costs is a

major concern for China’s innovation policy. RRI is an emerging framework that may

be helpful in addressing some of the challenges and risks faced during the research

and innovation process.

Current studies on RRI mainly concentrate on high income economies. Less focus

has been given to emerging economies, such as China. The published literature on

RRI in China centers on the introduction of the RRI framework. Yu (2013) discussed

responsible innovation at the “3TU-5TU International Conference of Ethics of

Science and Technology” held in 2012 in China. Yu (2013) indicates that responsible

innovation, a contemporary issue combining technological ethics with management,