By its very nature, the notion of Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) is focused on the world of research, and more specifically on the allocation of project funding by European or national funding bodies, as in the case of the Netherlands, where considerable importance has been accorded to this theme. RRI expresses new requirements in terms of the conduct of research projects. This is not intended to imply that certain forms of responsibility were not previously considered in the research process. Good science always involves the respect of certain responsibilities from scientific integrity to the respect of discipline-specific standards of excellence. These responsibilities should be seen alongside the desire to protect individuals (both in physical terms and in terms of personal data) involved or affected by certain processes, limit animal suffering or preserve the environment, for example. RRI is different in that it goes beyond the level of research projects and experiments, taking in a broader spectrum of responsibility. This is particularly applicable to certain emerging technologies, where there is a need to anticipate potential consequences. Research should not, therefore, be limited to questions of social and economic impact; it needs to be responsible in a broader sense. This extends from the social and environmental challenges that need to be taken into account (such as the European Grand Challenges) to considering the means of responding to these challenges.

Sophie Pellé, economist and philosopher and an expert in the theoretical and applied debates surrounding RRI, has considered these questions in detail in an earlier work [PEL 16a]. In this volume, she focuses on the other side of the coin: innovation. She explores the specific points raised by the context of innovation and by economic activities, viewed from a perspective of responsibility. The European Commission funds a number of mixed projects, involving university institutions and private companies, and thus has a degree of control over the approaches involved; however, businesses are also major players in innovation. Inventions or scientific discoveries are exploited, transformed, modified and made accessible for the commercial market at the company level.

The present work, alongside forthcoming titles by Pavie [PAV 17], Nikolova [NIK 17] and Lenoir [LEN 15, LEN 17] (who takes a more theoretical approach), tackles the question of responsibility from a business perspective and, more generally, in terms of the economic environment.

This book is a welcome addition to the RRI canon for a number of reasons. First, it provides an accessible presentation of a number of texts and debates, on a number of levels, concerning corporate social responsibility (CSR), a precursor to RRI. CSR combines a number of levels of responsibility, including legal considerations [GIA 16] and a social dimension in the form of stakeholder implication, where the interests of individuals, groups, institutions or even the environment, which may be affected or have an effect on the company, are taken into account. Companies are thus subject to a triple requirement in terms of their economic responsibility to generate profit in a competitive environment, their social responsibility to stakeholders and the political responsibilities arising from reciprocal influences between the firm and the environment.

A rich and dynamic body of literature has developed in the field of CSR over the last 40 years, leading to the emergence of institutionalized practices regulated by robust and recognized international standards, such as the ISO 26 000 standard and those laid down by the global reporting initiative (GRI), discussed in this book.

Certain promoters of RRI refer back to CSR in establishing their definitions of RRI. This allows them to avoid the thorny issue of the meaning of moral responsibility (see [PEL 16a]). In doing so, they fail to consider the conceptual sources of CSR; this is problematic, as there are sizeable differences between CSR and RRI, as discussed in this work.

Second, Pellé’s study gives serious consideration to forms of responsibility that are specific and inherent to the corporate context, including the requirement to generate profit and to respect laws, sometimes on a range of different levels. The book directly addresses the requirements of the two different spheres, with their respective standards, and the justifications used to defend, limit or avoid implication in CSR.

Third, the author highlights the limitations of a utilitarist approach, based on the consequences of company involvement in CSR, or of a deontological approach, based on legal considerations. She favors an approach in terms of the ethics of care, either taken alone or, better, in addition to these other perspectives.

Ms. Pellé goes on to consider the question of the foundations of moral reasoning, above and beyond the idea of care for stakeholders. In this, she follows the lines set out by Goodpaster, an author who has done much to develop the understanding of the concrete forms taken by responsibility at company level. Goodpaster aimed to develop a moral praxis designed to balance and synthesize conflicting interests, in a work which combined philosophy and management science, establishing a four-part dynamic of perception, reasoning, coordination and implementation.

This book also takes account of Martha Nussbaum and Amartya Sen’s work on capabilities. With certain adaptations in terms of meaning and, notably, in the importance accorded to needs and the idea of vulnerability, the ethics of care and interpretations of CSR from a perspective of virtue provide a rich normative basis for interpreting the idea of responsibility and for developing governance principles for RRI.

Fourth, and more fundamentally, it provides a fertile ground for reflection in terms of recognizing ethical pluralism, and by creating links between different ethical theories, developing a basis for ethical innovation. Ethical innovation is essential in combining legal and social responsibility within a firm, along with the individual responsibilities of employees and executives. These responsibilities play out over several dimensions, including economic, legal, ethical and political aspects. Moreover, they may also be interpreted as roles, capabilities or authorities, all forms of moral responsibility.

The difficulties raised by innovation in terms of our capacities for anticipation and normative evaluation, notably through the acceleration of the chain of technological ruptures that it induces and the accompanying series of social and political ruptures, require us to make use of conceptual forms of innovation. In this sense, the present work complements the final three books in the current series, which approach similar problems using a range of philosophical resources [REB 17, GRU 16, MAE 17].

Fifth, Sophie Pellé considers the question of interrelations and the sharing of responsibilities both within and outside companies. This point is crucial to an understanding of CSR and stakeholder theory (SHT), and provides a welcome means of moving beyond the simple injunction to take account of stakeholder interests, an element that forms the first pillar of RRI while constituting a new addition to the field of research and innovation ethics. This work gives both plausibility and body to the promises of RRI, essentially through the use of examples. In doing so, it provides a valuable demonstration of ways in which the tenets of RRI (responsiveness, reflexivity, transparency, etc.) can take concrete form, notably through the use of new practices such as open innovation, living labs or social innovation to promote responsibility.

This second book by Sophie Pellé, following on from [PEL 16a], examines the two distinct worlds concerned by the vague but promising notion of RRI, making precious headway in justifying and establishing a more precise definition of the idea, two elements which are essential to its continued implementation.

Bernard REBER