Short abstract:

We provide empirical insights into, and reflection on, our own attempt to practice responsible innovation ecosystem governance in NeuroSys, a research and innovation project in the area of next-generation computing. We introduce and argue for the concept of transformative innovation ecosystems.

Long abstract:

Responding to calls for a systemic turn in Responsible Innovation (RI) and an emerging body of literature on ‘responsible’ innovation ecosystems, Smolka and Böschen (2023) have introduced the concept of responsible innovation ecosystem governance. However, there is little empirical research on the practicality of such a ‘systemic’ approach to RI. We therefore provide empirical insights into, and critical reflection on, achievements and challenges in our own attempt to practice responsible innovation governance in the emerging innovation ecosystem of NeuroSys. NeuroSys is a multidisciplinary research and innovation cluster, in which scientists, industry actors, and regional stakeholders collaborate to develop and commercialize brain-inspired computing hardware and software that promise to improve the energy-efficiency and performance of artificial intelligence (AI) applications. In a team of embedded social scientists and ethicists, we seek to integrate ethics and societal considerations into high-tech research and innovation, drawing on multi-method approach of anticipation and intervention. A significant challenge for a responsibility-oriented innovation ecosystem is to simultaneously achieve sociotechnical viability beyond the sociotechnical niche and sociotechnical desirability in light of multiple, interdependent unfolding transformation processes and questions of (global) justice. To better understand these challenges and ways of addressing them, we introduce and argue for the concept of transformative innovation ecosystems.