Year: 2020
Type: dissertation
Abstract: This thesis investigates Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) and its possible\napplication for assessing assistive technologies. Such assessments aim to produce ethically\nacceptable solutions as well as enhanced value for the user groups. RRI connects science,\ninnovation, society and citizens in the creation of social goods or the realisation of social\nvalues through research and development processes.\nAlthough RRI has been an ideal for the governance of science for almost a decade, it remains\nlittle studied, in particular in the field of health and assistive technologies. The notion has\nreceived support from several European research funding agencies, but is still only in its\ninfancy when it comes to concrete application with and for citizens and society. The goal of\nthis thesis is to investigate how the governance of assistive technologies can become more\nresponsible through assessments. The research process underlying this investigation was itself\ninspired by RRI.\nThrough extensive literature searches and several engagement activities with potential users,\nimportant stakeholders and their representatives, this thesis investigates the performance of\nsocio-ethical assessments of assistive technologies in light of RRI. It draws on earlier research\non Technology Assessment (TA) and applied ethics – and the interconnections between these\ntwo traditions – to investigate how these traditions might deliver assessment frameworks in\nline with the normative demands of RRI; and how to relate these traditions to Health\nTechnology Assessments (HTA), the main approach to making policy decisions on new\nhealth interventions. By using of a combination of two such frameworks, the Ethical Matrix\nand the Socratic approach, this thesis suggests that an exploratory approach to RRI can inform\nassessment strategies and has the potential to enhance responsibility through both process and\nproduct selection. In particular, the thesis illustrates that there are lacunas in the municipal\ninnovation process, where value decisions are made, and that structured assessment\nmethodologies could improve the quality of such decisions.\nThe thesis contributes to an understanding of what RRI could entail in practical research\nthrough using its methodological and normative positions as points of departure for\ninvestigations into the values in assistive technologies. It also introduces a new approach to\ninnovation chains for assistive technologies in municipalities and it explores how to enhance\nmethods in applied ethics through a combination of the Ethical Matrix and the Socratic\napproach.
Author: Erik Thorstensen
Language: English
Subfield: Sociology and Political Science
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W3111794170