Citizen-driven innovation: stem cell scientists, patient advocates and financial innovators in the making of the California Institute of Regenerative Medicine (CIRM)

Abstract

Our attention in this paper is to the relationship between society and science in science-based innovation processes. We propose that citizens’ and scientists’ actions are interlaced and that civil society provides a platform on which novel approaches to innovation may be formed. The empirical focus is set on stem cells and regenerative medicine in California, and the emergence of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM). In an effort to advance the area, a coalition of actors went beyond conventional roles and ventured into a broader realm of ‘innovation in innovation’, creating a new financial and organizational model. This has played out in a number of interesting and fruitful ways, and implications can be drawn for innovation policy and practice.

Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to the California Institute of Technology and to all respondents for gracious sharing of information and experiences, and most especially to the City of Hope respondents who willingly participated as panelists in the special session, presenting the CIRM study to the 2014 Society for the Social Study of Science (4S) Conference, San Diego, exemplifying reflexivity and co-production of qualitative social science knowledge through interviewee/interviewer collaboration.