Paper short abstract:

Objects do not mediate knowledge or goals by themselves. By studying two collaborations we show what practices actors use to establish and change objects' mediating roles over time and how objects increase credibility, salience and legitimacy in university-industry collaborations as a form of RRI.

Paper long abstract:

Responsible research that is developed in collaboration with industry requires credible science that is salient for the industrial partner and aligns with societal values and business culture. However, university-industry collaborations (UIC) frequently have to deal with tensions between academic credibility and developing salient solutions in the context of application.

Objects have been assigned a mediating role in aligning expertise and goals. However, more is to be discovered regarding how they do so. By combining Cash et al.'s (2012) concepts of salience, credibility and legitimacy with insights regarding the role of different kinds of objects (epistemic, boundary and infrastructural) in cross-team collaboration new insights are gained regarding the mediating role of objects in UIC.

Building on two case studies two contributions are made: First, it is shown how objects can support a legitimate process and increase the salience and credibility of the knowledge that is developed in UIC. Second, the practice to establish the credibility, salience and legitimacy of objects themselves are uncovered. To do so we zoom in on moments where objects are introduced and on incidents where breaches in salience, credibility and legitimacy of objects surface.