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New Paper: "Accountability of Innovation: A literature review, framework and guidelines to strengthen accountability of organisations engaged in technological innovation" Innovation drives progress. Technological innovation can have a huge impact on the livelihood and lives of people, and can make important steps – if appropriately directed – in alleviating poverty. Recognising this, international donors, private companies and philanthropic institutions spend vast sums on research into innovative products in the health sector, in agriculture, engineering, transport and information technology. As with policy communities, however, innovation systems are complex and diffuse. Many actors can provide valuable input, from illiterate users of a product themselves who know their context intimately to well-funded academic teams redolent with technical expertise. Successful innovators capitalise on existing knowledge and ideas, drawn widely from a range of actors. They therefore take into account the knowledge and ideas of the wider system. Accountability – conceived of as “taking into account” – provides a valuable opportunity to harness existing knowledge. Moreover, as increasingly controversial techniques become commonplace, research organisations must consider their accountability for their research activities – ranging from the use of stem cell research to the genetic modification of crops. Research ethics, accountability and responsibility therefore become important elements to a wider accountability strategy for technological research, as much as policy-relevant research. The One World Trust team builds on its work on accountability of research to develop a framework of accountability for technological innovators. Publications
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