Seeing responsible innovation through a value lens

Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about the relationship between value and responsible innovation.

When making the case for responsible innovation within an organization, the conversation almost inevitably turns to a discussion about managing risk. And while responsible innovation absolutely helps manage risk, this defensive framing fails to capture the upside that responsible innovation can generate. 

This framing also ushers in a compliance mindset, which can often be at odds with an innovation mindset. Enterprises are more likely to ask what steps they must take to stay out of trouble—instead of what steps they can proactively take to make the pie bigger, i.e., to generate value not just for users and the P&L, but also for the company’s brand and reputation, affected communities, and even the environment.

To make things complicated, the definition of “responsible innovation” is far from settled. I searched for how others have defined it and liked these examples:

“Responsible innovation means taking care of the future through collective stewardship of science and innovation in the present.” Jack Stilgoe, Richard Owen, Phil Macnaghten, “Developing a framework for responsible innovation”, Research Policy 42:9, 1568-1580 (2013).

Responsible innovation considers the role that new products, processes or business models have in society.” Charlotte Evans, “What Is Responsible Innovation and Why Does It Matter?” (2021). 

The fact remains, however, that risk mitigation is a significant driver for responsible innovation, and it effectively conveys the urgency around investments in responsible innovation capabilities and tools. 

So—how to square this defensive vs proactive framing without overcomplicating things? 

After some brainstorming, I’ve landed on a responsible innovation framework rooted in the concept of value, specifically protecting value and creating value.

As a personal matter, I prefer this value-focused framing because it is optimistic, exciting to me, and aligns with my interests. But as a practical matter, this framing is helpful for organizations because it highlights the potential upside of responsible innovation and orients teams toward generative, collaborative—and innovative—thinking.

Here’s a working draft of this value-based responsible innovation framework.*

What do you think about this approach? Any suggestions or other feedback?

*At a future date, I will experiment with making the value axis vertical and adding a time scale, i.e., short-term to long-term, on the horizontal access.