Responsible research and innovation key performance indicators in industry. A case study in the ICT domain

Pages214-234
Date14 May 2018
Published date14 May 2018
DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1108/JICES-11-2017-0066
AuthorEmad Yaghmaei
Subject MatterInformation & knowledge management,Information management & governance,Information & communications technology
Responsible research and
innovation key performance
indicators in industry
A case study in the ICT domain
Emad Yaghmaei
Technische Universiteit Delft, Jaffalaan, Delft, The Netherlands
Abstract
Purpose Responsible researchand innovation (RRI) is taking a role in assisting all types of stakeholders,
including industry members, in moving their research and innovation (R&I) initiatives to tackle grand
challenges. The literatureon RRI, however, focuses little on how industry can implement RRI principles. To
solve this gap, the purposeof this study is to construct a conceptual frameworkfor managing and assessing
RRI principlesin the industry.
Design/methodology/approach Qualitative research was used to build the RRI key performance
indicator list; 30 interviews were conducted to design a framework which was pilottested in a company to
identifyhow to align technology outcomes to the values, needsand expectations of the society.
Findings This study depictsve successive RRI implementation levelsand exhibits RRI key performance
indicators. Drawingon extant models, this study develops RRI levels andindicators to discuss why industry
should become engagedin RRI, how it can embed RRI principles into R&I processesand how RRI indicators
can be managedsystematically.
Originality/value The connection between RRI key performance indicatorsand RRI levels determines
how industry can integrateprinciples and methodologies of RRI into R&I processes. The modelin the study
shows how companies move from one RRI stage to another andthis study aims to exhibit an ideal stage of
RRI for industry.
Keywords Stakeholder engagement, Industry and innovation, Responsible innovation,
RRI in industry, RRI KPIs, RRI metrics
Paper type Case study
Introduction
Responsible researchand innovation (RRI) has emerged in recent years as a potentialbridge
between science and the society that aims to increase the public value of science. The
European research framework Horizon 2020 has a dedicated section for RRI entitled
Science with and for Society. RRI is about better aligning the science outcomes with the
needs and values of the society (Owen et al., 2013;Von Schomberg, 2013;European
Commission, 2013). When this alignment is not well done, the outcomes of research and
innovation (R&I) tend to lose their validity.The goal of RRI is to try to express social needs
and values in terms of clear criteria and to provide a process for reliable, repeatable
assessment of a given R&I activity against those criteria. In essence, RRI seeks not only to
The research leading to these results has received funding both from the European Communitys
Seventh Framework Program (FP7/2007-2013) under grant agreement n° 609817 (Responsible-
Industry) and from the European Unions Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under grant
agreement No. 710059 (PRISMA).
JICES
16,2
214
Received14 November 2017
Revised18 March 2018
Accepted18 March 2018
Journalof Information,
Communicationand Ethics in
Society
Vol.16 No. 2, 2018
pp. 214-234
© Emerald Publishing Limited
1477-996X
DOI 10.1108/JICES-11-2017-0066
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/1477-996X.htm
do things right, but also to do the right things. To stimulate the RRI concept within R&I
initiatives (Stilgoe et al.,2013;Van den Hoven et al., 2014;European Commission, 2015),
recent works focused on a need to include stakeholdersvoices in innovation processes
(Owen et al., 2012) and highlighteda need to recognize and include diversityand equality in
gender, need to be anticipatory and reexive (Brey, 2016). In addition, being open and
transparent should berecognized by industrial stakeholders, and they need tobe responsive
to accomplish the goal of doing the right things and become truly transformative (Owen
et al.,2012;Jirotka et al.,2016).
Modern societies increasingly rely on R&I to address the most pressing worldwide
problems, such as demographic change,security and environmental or social sustainability.
Current European policy specically underlines the importance of R&I in addressing these
so-called grand challengesand, more generally, in tackling them by promoting a
responsible approachto R&I (Hinde, 2008;European Commission, 2010;2012a,2012b).
The practice-based originsof the RRI concept highlight the signicantrole of industry in
implementing RRI principles and tackling existing grand challenges. However, few studies
if any have been shown to reect RRI principles in industryin the practical design.
In the area of responsible innovation, a wide range of guideline and tools have been
developed for policy-makers, civil society organizationsand research communities (Sutcliffe,
2011;Majchrzak and Markus, 2013;EuropeanCommission, 2015), although few tools focus
on business and industry. Whereas the currenttools may assist in reecting RRI principles
for different stakeholder types, they are inappropriate to assess the RRI aspects in industry
at different levels (with some exceptions, for example, Macnaghten, 2016). As such, the
present study aims to contribute to RRI literature by establishing an integrated model in
industry to show different stages of RRI. This paper investigates an integration of societal
concerns into rmsmanagement processes and renders a theoretically robust basis for
delineating the responsibility trajectory (from lower to higher stages of RRI). An integrated
model is developed to show why RRI principles should be integrated into industrial levels,
how they could be implemented in the industry and how they mightbe assessed internally
and systematically.
This paper proceeds in the following steps. As the rst step, the paper discusses what
RRI is and why it is needed. At the second step, the needs of implementing RRI in industry
are identied and explored. To implement RRI in industry, industrial stakeholders need a
RRI integrated model that considers performance indicators at different strategic levels for
them. To develop the RRI integrated model, this article applies a qualitative research
method in industry. In so doing, we formulate the RRI integrated model to manage the
implementation of RRI in industry by focusingon RRI key performance indicators and RRI
levels, thus benetingRRI research for industrial stakeholders.
Responsible research and innovation
In dening RRI, Von Schomberg(2011, p. 9) argues that:
Responsible Research and Innovation is 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 scientic and technological advances in our
society).
Von Schombergsdenition of RRI, the most commonlycited in the literature, is broad and
underscores several important aspects.The concept has common currency for at least three
reasons. First, it reects RRIconcerns, where the process and product of innovation mustbe
Innovation key
performance
indicators
215

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