Responsibility Beyond Growth: A Case for Responsible Stagnation

Critically assessing growth-based models of innovation policy, this enlightening study sparks new debate on the role and nature of responsible innovation. Drawing on insights from economics, politics, and science and technology studies, it proposes the concept of ’responsible stagnation’ as an expansion of present discussions about growth, degrowth, responsibility and innovation within planetary limitations. This important intervention explores real-world relationships between the political economy, innovation policy and concepts of responsibility, and will be an invaluable resource for individuals and civil society organizations who seek to promote responsible innovation.

Stevienna de Saille is a science and technology studies research fellow in the Institute for the Study of the Human (iHuman) at the University of Sheffield. Fabien Medvecky is Senior Lecturer in Science Communication at the University of Otago. Michiel van Oudheusden is a social scientist at Katholieke Universiteit Leuven and a Marie Sklodowska-Curie research fellow at the University of Cambridge. Kevin Albertson is Professor of Economics at Manchester Metropolitan University. Effie Amanatidou is Honorary Senior Research Fellow at Manchester Institute of Innovation Research at the Alliance Manchester Business School, University of Manchester. Timothy Birabi has a PhD in Economics from the University of Glasgow and is presently a corporate strategy consultant in London. Mario Pansera is Assistant Professor in Innovation Management at the Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona in Spain.