Responsible innovation and the reshaping of existing technological trajectories: the hard case of genetically modified crops

ABSTRACT

In this article, I argue that if frameworks of responsible innovation are to prove successful in aligning innovation dynamics with societal values, they will have to demonstrate their capacities to shape existing technological trajectories, alongside those that remain ‘in-the-making’. Reporting on a major research project as written up in the edited volume, Governing Agricultural Sustainability, I outline the dynamics of and responses to genetically modified (GM) crops in three Global South settings – in Brazil on GM soya, in India on GM cotton and in Mexico on GM maize. Using the ‘anticipation-inclusion-reflexivity-responsiveness’ (AIRR) framework, I explore the potential of responsible innovation to reconfigure the debate on the governance of GM foods and crops and to move the debate away from its current polemic and impasse.

KEYWORDS:

• Responsible innovation
• genetically modified crops
• Global South
• controversy
• governance
• agricultural sustainability

Acknowledgements

This paper reports on the research project GM Futuros: Understanding the Social, Cultural and Religious Factors that Shape the Acceptance, Use and Resistance to GM Crops. The GM Futuros project involved a large interdisciplinary and cross-national team of researchers, advisors and commentators. Particular individuals I would like to thank are: Marta Astier, Joanildo Burity, Susana Carro-Ripalda, Yulia Egorova, Julia Guivant, Keith Lindsey, Tom McLeish, Michael Northcott and Rajeswari Raina.

Notes on contributor

Phil Macnaghten is Personal Professor in Technology and International Development at the Knowledge, Technology and Innovation chair group at Wageningen University (The Netherlands).

Additional information

Funding

I am grateful for the John Templeton Foundation for the funding of this project [grant number 29641].