Responsible Innovation
This September, the universities of Leiden, Delft and Rotterdam will organise in full collaboration the minor programme Responsible Innovation. Top students from different disciplines will come together to learn and practice Responsible Innovation
This minor offers in-depth insight into how responsible innovation can be accomplished and promoted. Students will learn how responsible innovation can be defined and analysed; how it can be done and managed at the level of a project team, of a company, and of an entire economic system; and how responsible innovation can be promoted and irresponsible innovation avoided.
Students will be challenged to bring newly acquired knowledge into practice. We believe that learning responsible innovation requires doing. Together with experts from industry, private entreprise and public sector, students will work in interdisciplinary teams on cases in the field of responsible innovation.
What is Responsible Innovation?
Innovation is a key driver of economic development. Companies aim at innovation and governments stimulate it. But although innovation may bring good to society, there are also many examples of innovations and new technologies that have serious negative effects, or that just fail to address the important problems. The term responsible innovation refers to innovation that avoids or minimises such negative effects and failures.
What will you learn in this minor?
During this minor you will be introduced to the technical, managerial and socio-economic principles that govern innovation, and discuss the ethical conditions for innovating responsibly. The media present us with a variety of interesting cases, such as Bio-metric identification, Cyber Crime, Shale Gas, GMOs, Nuclear Energy, and Labour rights. The answer to such complex problems is never one-dimensional but may be at odds with the common idea that business is mainly about money making. Companies tend to produce innovation that aims to generate revenues. Governments set rules that provide limitations for the sake of safety, environment and other societal benefits. In some cases, customers favour ‘responsible’ companies over others – ‘fair trade’ or ‘eco’ claims or labels may then create a competitive advantage.
To understand and answer these questions an interdisciplinary approach is required. In this minor, unique knowledge and skills are brought together from three cooperating universities Delft, Leiden and Rotterdam. Each university brings its own specific focus and expertise to the issue of responsible innovation. The students and teachers come from the different universities, and bring with them specific knowledge and perspectives from their studies. To bring the potential for interdisciplinarity to life, participants will embark in mixed teams on a so called Student Project; diagnosing, analysing, designing and evaluating a real life company case.
More information on the minor and its specific courses will be available in the e-guide from May 1 onwards. If you have questions, please contact Sjoerd Louwaars at s.p.louwaars@cdh.leidenuniv.nl