The responsible research and innovation (RRI) maturity model: Linking theory and practice

Bernd Carsten Stahl*, Michael Obach, Emad Yaghmaei, Veikko Ikonen, Kate Chatfield, Alexander Brem

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleScientificpeer-review

94 Citations (Scopus)
168 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Responsible research and innovation (RRI) is an approach to research and innovation governance aiming to ensure that research purpose, process and outcomes are acceptable, sustainable and even desirable. In order to achieve this ambitious aim, RRI must be relevant to research and innovation in industry. In this paper, we discuss a way of understanding and representing RRI that resonates with private companies and lends itself to practical implementation and action. We propose the development of an RRI maturity model in the tradition of other well-established maturity models, linked with a corporate research and development (R&D) process. The foundations of this model lie in the discourse surrounding RRI and selected maturity models from other domains as well as the results of extensive empirical investigation. The model was tested in three industry environments and insights from these case studies show the model to be viable and useful in corporate innovation processes. With this approach, we aim to inspire further research and evaluation of the proposed maturity model as a tool for facilitating the integration of RRI in corporate management.

Original languageEnglish
Article number1036
JournalSustainability
Volume9
Issue number6
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2017

Keywords

  • Industry
  • Innovation process
  • Maturity model
  • R&D management
  • Responsible research and innovation
  • RRI

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