Andy Stirling, SPRU – Science and Technology Policy Research

Annual STEPS Symposium, Brighton 24th September 2009

Democratising Innovation:

towards more accountable institutions

The Missing Politics of Direction

all technology is good…

all innovation is good…

“For the objectives of the Lisbon Strategy … pro-innovation action [is] a priority.”

- European Parliament

“[we need] more `pro-innovation’ policies …”- José Manuel Borroso

determined simply by science…

“[there is] an anti-technology culture …a pro- technology culture must be created…”

- Council for Science and Technology

“… this government's approach is to make decisions … on the basis of sound science

- Tony Blair

progress

PAST

FUTURE

conventional ‘linear’ understandings of technology change still prevail in mainstream technology governance

eg:

“history is a race to advance technology”

- Royal Academy of Engineering

Treats innovation as homogeneous: no distinctions … no alternatives … no politics … no choice !

Similarly unidirectional notions of ‘sustainability’ and ‘development’

The Missing Politics of Direction

space of technologicalpossibilities

time

Policy worldwide sees innovation converging on single direction

This is a ‘scalar’ (rather than ‘vector’) view – highlighting questions of scale, rate & leadership, rather than direction

Conventional economic and technology strategy reinforce this view…

focusing on: rates, optimisation, efficiency, diffusion

aspiring to be: first movers, catching up, forging ahead, leapfrogging

afraid of: barriers, falling behind, laggards, stranding

The Missing Economics of Direction

time

BUT! – common picture in all understandings of innovation:

multiple diverging directions

many possible feasible / viable paths, of which only some will be realised

The Missing Economics of Direction

time

a diversity of processes ‘close down’ possible directions of change

economics: homeostasis, lock-in, regimes, trajectories

history: contingency, momentum, path-dependence

philosophy: autonomy

social studies: shaping, co-construction, expectations, imaginations

political science: entrapment , alignment

innovation is ‘vector’ not ‘scalar’

The Missing Economics of Direction

QWERTY keyboards

… light water reactors …

… military systems …

Historic ‘Branching Paths’

Many past examples of repeated ‘lock-in’ at expense of diversity

time

innovation is ‘vector’ not ‘scalar’

Many past examples of repeated ‘lock-in’ at expense of diversity

Narrow Gauge Railways

… urban transport …

… internal combustion engine …

time

innovation is ‘vector’ not ‘scalar’

Historic ‘Branching Paths’

Many past examples of repeated ‘lock-in’ at expense of diversity

VHS and Betamax

… media standards …

… Windows software…

Deliberately or not – societies close down directions of progress

pressures intensify with globalisation, harmonisation, standardisation

time

innovation is ‘vector’ not ‘scalar’

Historic ‘Branching Paths’

Future Pathways?

Plural interests and values favour a diversity of directions:

seed production: – genetic modification / MAB / apomixis;

– commercial industrial hybrids;

– public open source research;

– land reform / participatory breeding

time

innovation is ‘vector’ not ‘scalar’

Future Pathways?

Plural interests and values favour a diversity of directions:

public health: – IP intensive pharmaceuticals for rich;

– generic products for diseases of poor;

– gene-based screening of mass

susceptibilities; – preventive public health

measures

time

innovation is ‘vector’ not ‘scalar’

‘sustainable’ energy: – nuclear power;

– carbon capture and storage;

– centralised / offshore renewables;

– reconfigured energy services;

– community-led distributed energy

time

innovation is ‘vector’ not ‘scalar’

Plural interests and values favour a diversity of directions:

Future Pathways?

not just about : - yes or no? - how fast? - who leads?

(for single assumptively ‘optimal’ trajectory)

but also about: - which ways? - why? - says who?

… provoke and nurture a new global politics on directions of innovation

time

Plural interests and values favour a diversity of directions:

Future Pathways?

New practices and institutions help provoke and nurture a new politics

Catalysing a New Politics of Innovation

inform mainstream policy-making about orientations of innovation

extend diversity of perspectives on directions for innovation

build new modes of accountability in pubic and private sectors

enable more distributed and diverse forms of innovation activity

address global structures in international innovation systems

enhance high-level political debate over priorities, values, interests

Summary of Manifesto recommendations for institutional reforms:

Catalysing a New Politics of Innovation

implement annual reporting to national parliaments on matching of public R&D and innovation activities to societal needs

- helps inform policy and build accountability in public sector

Catalysing a New Politics of Innovation

implement annual reporting to national parliaments on matching of public R&D and innovation activities to societal needs

require commercial firms above a given size to report on scale, orientation, and distributional implications of

innovation.

- helps inform policy and build accountability in private sector

Summary of Manifesto recommendations for institutional reforms:

Catalysing a New Politics of Innovation

implement annual reporting to national parliaments on matching of public R&D and innovation activities to societal needs

require commercial firms above a given size to report on scale, orientation, and distributional implications of

innovation. establish national Strategic Innovation Forums with participation from grassroots civil society to oversee and scrutinise reporting

- helps extend perspectives and enhance politics

Summary of Manifesto recommendations for institutional reforms:

Catalysing a New Politics of Innovation

implement annual reporting to national parliaments on matching of public R&D and innovation activities to societal needs

require commercial firms above a given size to report on scale, orientation, and distributional implications of

innovation. establish national Strategic Innovation Forums with participation from grassroots civil society to oversee and scrutinise reporting

through G8 and G20, reform laws and procedures for creating and enforcing intellectual property rights at international level.

- helps address global systems and enable diversity

Summary of Manifesto recommendations for institutional reforms:

Catalysing a New Politics of Innovation

implement annual reporting to national parliaments on matching of public R&D and innovation activities to societal needs

require commercial firms above a given size to report on scale, orientation, and distributional implications of

innovation. establish national Strategic Innovation Forums with participation from grassroots civil society to oversee and scrutinise reporting

through G8 and G20, reform laws and procedures for creating and enforcing intellectual property rights at international level.

establish a Global Innovation Commission to monitor and challenge societal purposes & efficacy of global public & private innovation

- helps engage global systems, so informing policy, enhancing politics, extending perspectives, building accountability & enabling diversity

Summary of Manifesto recommendations for institutional reforms:

Catalysing a New Politics of Innovation?

implement annual reporting to national parliaments on matching of public R&D and innovation activities to societal needs

require commercial firms above a given size to report on scale, orientation, and distributional implications of

innovation. establish national Strategic Innovation Forums with participation from grassroots civil society to oversee and scrutinise reporting

through G8 and G20, reform laws and procedures for creating and enforcing intellectual property rights at international level.

establish a Global Innovation Commission to monitor and challenge societal purposes & efficacy of global public & private innovation

Summary of Manifesto recommendations for institutional reforms:

ANNEX: summary of recommendations for institutional reforms

The institutions responsible for shaping innovation and the distribution of its benefits and risks should be made more accountable to their stated beneficiaries.

C-1: Annual reports to document the overall prioritisation of all public sector R&D and innovation activities

C-2: Each state should establish a 'Strategic Innovation Forum' including grassroots national civil society organisations

C-3: Programme for progressively increasing proportions of public sector research and innovation accountable to users and grassroots civil society

C-4: Private sector organisations should report on scale, orientation, and distribution of innovation to national Strategic Innovation Forum

C-5: The G8 and G20 should reform laws and procedures for the creation and enforcement of intellectual property

C-6 Promote alternative models for incentivising innovation for poverty alleviation and environmental sustainability

C-7: Constitute a Global Innovation Commission to monitor and challenge the societal purposes and efficacy of global innovation activities

The institutions responsible for shaping innovation and the distribution of its benefits and risks should be made more accountable to their stated beneficiaries.

ANNEX: specific recommendations for institutional reforms – national:

C-1: Annual reports to the national legislature should document the overall prioritisation of all public sector R&D and innovation activities thus facilitating open transparent political debate about the aggregate resource allocations in relation to societal needs and distributional consequences.

C-2: Each state should establish a body to fulfil the function of a 'Strategic Innovation Forum' including representation from a full range of grassroots national civil society organisations to oversee and deliberate on the reporting process, and match relevant R&D and innovation activities to societal needs.

C-3: An explicit programme should be established to make progressively increasing proportions of public sector research and innovation activities – both in competitive evaluation and in project governance – accountable to users and grassroots civil society organisations.

C-4: It should be a statutory requirement of private sector organisations above a specified audited turnover, that the scale, orientation, and distributional

implications of R&D and innovation activities be a matter for transparent regular reporting in the country of legal incorporation, subject to formal regular comment from the national Strategic Innovation Forum.

ANNEX: institutional recommendations (continued) – international:

C-5: The G8 should work with the G20 to open an honest dialogue with the wider international community, including the’ least developed countries’ to reform the laws and procedures for the creation and enforcement of intellectual property rights at national and international levels.

C-6 Civil society and commercial organisations should promote alternative models to incentivising innovation for poverty alleviation and environmental sustainability goals, and continue to experiment with, stretch and extend the flexibilities provided under the WTO TRIPS agreement.

C-7: A Global Innovation Commission should be established to promote the emerging 3D agenda for innovation, sustainability and development and provide co-ordination and oversight at an international level. Comprising a broad diversity of actors (especially from the global South), this should be constituted in association with (but independent from) the existing institutional frameworks of the UN and others concerned with international development and world trade regulation, under a governance structure to include representation from civil society organisations participating in national level Strategic Innovation Fora. The remit of the GIC is to monitor and challenge the societal purposes and efficacy of global public and private sector innovation activities, thus facilitating more democratic political debate and so help improve the diversity, direction, and distributional consequences of intergovernmental, national & commercial innovative activity.

time

innovation is ‘vector’ not ‘scalar’

“…We have no alternative to nuclear power … if there were other sources of low carbon energy I would be in favour, but there aren't.”

Sir David King, UK Chief Scientist, 2006

‘sustainable’ energy:

expectations exert

self-fulfilling feedback

on social choice

Plural interests and values favour a diversity of directions:

Future Pathways?