New guidance to help drive responsible innovation
Pioneering science and innovation has brought societies huge benefits. Cutting-edge breakthroughs have helped to address chronic diseases, achieve more sustainable agriculture and bring a range of new products to market. There is however always a degree of uncertainty surrounding new and emerging technologies. When faced with possible concerns over impacts on the environment or health, policymakers exercise what is called the precautionary principle.
Precautionary principle
Enshrined in the European treaties, the principle aims to ensure a high level of environmental and health protection through preventative decision-making, in the case of risk. “The precautionary principle allows decision makers to act when faced with unacceptable risks, scientific uncertainty and public concerns,” explains RECIPES project co-coordinator Kristel De Smedt from Maastricht University in the Netherlands. “In other words, when in doubt, be cautious.” One difficulty is that there is no clear consensus over how the precautionary principle should be implemented in practice. While the precautionary principle encourages early action to minimise risk, critics believe that over-deployment of the principle can hamper technological innovation.
Responsible innovation
The RECIPES project links the precautionary principle with the notion of ‘responsible innovation’ and helps decision makers exercise the precautionary principle in a manner that both protects citizens and encourages scientific endeavour. To begin, the project assessed the implementation of the precautionary principle in Europe since 2000. This helped the team to come up with a conceptual framework that aligns the precautionary principle with what it calls responsible innovation. “We took the view that innovation needs to be ‘for’ something,” adds De Smedt. “It should be used to help achieve sustainable development, for example.” The team then applied this framework to a series of case studies. These case studies touched on issues such as the debate surrounding genetically modified organisms, endocrine disrupting chemicals and the use of artificial intelligence in healthcare. The case studies formed the basis of scenarios for the future of the precautionary principle and innovation. An important outcome of discussions with various stakeholders was that precaution is not fundamentally opposed to innovation.
Guidance for policymakers
One of the key messages of the RECIPES project is that the precautionary principle works best when it is used as both a safeguard and a compass. As a legal principle and safeguard, it can justify early policy or regulatory action to manage uncertain risks, ensuring that EU citizens are protected. And as a compass or policy principle guiding innovation, it can trigger debates within research about potential impacts, leading to necessary adjustments in development towards sustainable choices. This is what the project means by responsible innovation. The main deliverable of the project has been the development of a guidance document for policymakers. This was based on case study work carried out during the project, as well as workshops with policymakers and stakeholders, to take account of their views. The document provides advice on dealing with uncertain risks, guided by this principle of responsible innovation. Target groups include not just policymakers but also government agencies, policy support organisations and bodies concerned with risk regulation. The RECIPES team also developed sector-specific recommendations for the chemicals and gene technology sectors, to explain what the guidance would mean for these two sectors and how responsible innovation might be implemented. This will help to increase understanding of the concept within and drive cutting-edge research.
Keywords
RECIPES, technologies, precautionary principle, innovation, health, agriculture, diseases
