Papers by Kornelia Konrad
Increasing public investments in distributed platform infrastructures have created new opportunit... more Increasing public investments in distributed platform infrastructures have created new opportunities for economic growth and social welfare but at the same time have been associated with growing societal distrust in the power of science to solve societal problems. The concept of Responsible Research & Innovation has been advanced as providing mechanisms to recouple science and society to ensure that research and innovation continues to uphold its duties to society. In this paper, we explore the extent to which it is possible to identify repertoires of responsible innovation behaviour within extant research and innovation networks. We distinguish between two kinds of regional innovation network, those based on science and technology innovation, and those based on doing, using, inventing innovation in the eHealth sector where there are substantive societal concerns regarding responsibility and innovation. We contend that it appears that the coupling of patients to innovation networks through their prior association with innovators (e.g. as patients) affects the scope for responsibility. We therefore contend that more attention is required for understanding the dynamics of citizen-innovator coupling in regional innovation networks if responsibility is to become a more common property of these systems.
Futures, 2018
A B S T R A C T Graphene is a material consisting of ideally one layer of carbon atoms that has b... more A B S T R A C T Graphene is a material consisting of ideally one layer of carbon atoms that has been claimed to enable a new wave of disruptive technological innovation. Similar to other techno-scientific fields, graphene research has been populated with far-reaching promises and expectations, and claimed to be subject to over-promising and hype. This article builds on a practice-based approach to understand how expectations contribute to the emergence of the techno-scientific field of graphene. We follow the anticipatory practices that constituted different arenas where expectations on graphene have been voiced, spread and assessed. These arenas relate to scientific, policy and market actors, and anticipatory practices reach from the circulation of promises in high-profile journals, via roadmapping to calculative practices that shape emergent markets. We investigate the specific forms of performativity that different practices create, and how these practices have contributed to the emergence and governance of the graphene field.
Sector Dynamics in Demand Articulation: The Case of Emerging Sensor Technologies for Drinking Water Applications
Technological Forecasting & Social Change, 2017
ABSTRACT Demand articulation plays a key role in early phases of innovation processes. It may red... more ABSTRACT Demand articulation plays a key role in early phases of innovation processes. It may reduce uncertainties for innovating firms and offer guidance in innovation processes. Studies into demand articulation processes have tended to focus on users and user-producer interactions and pay less attention to the role of the broader environment in which users and producers are embedded. This paper draws attention to dynamics and outcomes at the sector level which go beyond user-producer interactions, but nevertheless have important effects on these actors' articulations of demands. We illustrate our perspective and conceptualization by offering a case study of demand articulation processes regarding emerging nanotechnology-based sensor technologies for drinking water applications. Sensor technologies constitute an important component within the drinking water supply system and can interact with many system functions. While drinking water companies have expressed a keen interest in sensor technologies for water quality monitoring, the articulation of demands up to actual application of sensors is limited. Our analysis shows how dynamics and outcomes at the sector level shape articulation of demands via putting formulation of requirements for sensor technologies on the agenda of suppliers and users, and shaping impasses in demand articulation processes. We conclude by pointing out how our analysis helps to identify intervention strategies to support demand articulation and overcome impasses.
Bowman et al. (eds.) Embedding New Technologies in Society: A Regulatory, Ethical & Societal Perspective. Pan Stanford: Singapore., 2017
The demand side of innovation governance: Demand articulation processes in the case of nano-based sensor technologies
Performing and Governing the Future in Science and Technology
Miller et al. (eds) The Handbook of Science and Technology Studies, 4th edition. Cambridge: MIT Press, 2017
The practices of science and technology are saturated with expectations, promises, and prospectiv... more The practices of science and technology are saturated with expectations, promises, and prospective claims. What is more, future-oriented representations affect scientific and technological practices and constitute an important reference point for the governance of science and technology. The chapter reviews literature from science and technology studies (STS) and related fields on future-oriented representations and anticipatory practices. The first group of studies is concerned with understanding the performativity, shaping and dynamics of expectations in science and technology building on concrete empirical cases, and largely relates to the sociology of expectations. In a second step, the chapter moves to research which addresses different forms of constructing and relating to the future and how these forms are embedded in broader, historically varying modes of future orientation that characterize cultures and societies, drawing on the sociology of time. Finally, the chapter reviews approaches which turn the analytical understanding of the importance of future-oriented representations in a more interventionist perspective, by highlighting anticipatory practices where the future is intentionally mobilized by STS scholars who seek to intervene in the governance of science and technology.
Nature Nanotechnology, 2017
describe a toolbox that they developed to support researchers in exploring the societal implicati... more describe a toolbox that they developed to support researchers in exploring the societal implications and prerequisites of their work.
Notions of Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) have received great interest by policy maker... more Notions of Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) have received great interest by policy makers and scholars. The application of RRI to research and innovation practices 'on the labfloor' however remains a big challenge. In this chapter we present an example of the practical implementation of RRI in the form of a technology assessment (TA) exercise in the context of the Dutch nanotechnology research program NanoNextNL. Specifically, a technical PhD student, supported by a TA facilitator, organised a workshop to explore additional application fields, innovation pathways and commercialisation opportunities, potential bottlenecks and societal benefits of the nanomedicine platform she developed in her PhD project. We describe an approach that we label 'CTA-lite' which involves a multi-actor workshop and focuses on the development of an innovation path map. We reflect on the potential for wider uptake of this approach and its possible limitations. Additionally, we consider the benefits for natural scientists of doing such an exercise, and finish with suggestions for future implementation. We conclude that this case provides an example for integrating socio-technical dimensions and reflexive learning into research practices at the labfloor, and that it can serve as an inspiration for other researchers, and in this way supports a move towards mainstreaming of RRI.
Bowman et al. (eds.) Practices of Innovation, Governance and Action - Insights from Methods, Governance and Action. Berlin: AKA / IOS Press, , 2015
Responsible Innovation (RI) is articulated as an integrative concept for a collective ambition: a... more Responsible Innovation (RI) is articulated as an integrative concept for a collective ambition: anticipating and addressing societal aspects in research and innovation. The emerging discourse on RI, however, also marks a challenge beyond 'integration' in single projects, which is the 'mainstreaming' of concrete approaches across large research programs. Arguably, this will bring particular governance conditions to the fore that have to be addressed when pursuing the mainstreaming of RI as an integrative activity. In this chapter we report from an exploratory analysis of the integration and underlying conditions of Risk Analysis and Technology Assessment (RATA) in NanoNextNL, a large Dutch research and innovation program. In our findings we highlight the learning processes that occurred along the process of implementing this encompassing ambition in practice. We argue that such learning processes are inherent to attempts for mainstreaming RI at (research) program level, and suggest that governance strategies and arrangements should be set up in a way to facilitate learning–about what has to be integrated, as well as how to organize this effectively.
Bowman et al (eds) Practices of Innovation, Governance and Action - Insights from Methods, Governance and Action. Berlin: AKA / IOS Press, , 2015
Recent years have witnessed the emergence of 3D printing framed as a revolutionary and transforma... more Recent years have witnessed the emergence of 3D printing framed as a revolutionary and transformative technology. The development of consumer 3D printers, as well as the emergence of FabLabs has fueled a wave of expectations and (over) enthusiasm around the technology. Expectations around 3D printing address not only what the technology may deliver (economic growth, solution to societal challenges, radical innovation) but also how the social arrangements around the technology offer new possibilities. This is a narrative where innovation occurs because of curiosity, 'tinkering' and enjoyment in an open, collaborative and distributed way. This narrative corresponds to specific imaginaries and shared visions of technology development that are able to shape technological paths. This chapter studies the material practices in which these visions of 3D printing are embedded. We explore and compare how three companies actively shape and anticipate the future of 3D printing by embedding and mobilizing expectations in specific material practices. These are guided by a combination of logics that move between open-source and techno-economic. We show that these two different logics are accommodated within the same practices, and are aimed at fulfilling parts of a similar vision. The analysis provides preliminary indications of how logics of innovation evolve and shape anticipation in the case of an emerging technological field.
NanoEthics, 2013
ABSTRACT Expectations in the form of promises and concerns contribute to the sense-making and val... more ABSTRACT Expectations in the form of promises and concerns contribute to the sense-making and valuation of emerging nanotechnologies. They add up to what we call ‘de facto assessments’ of novel socio-technical options. We explore how de facto assessments of nanotechnologies differ in the application domains of water and food by examining promises and concerns, and their relations in scientific discourse. We suggest that domain characteristics such as prior experiences with emerging technologies, specific discursive repertoires and user-producer relationships, play a key role in framing expectations of nanotechnology-enabled options. The article concludes by suggesting that domain-specific discourses may lead to undesirable lock-ins into specific de facto assessments pre-structuring anticipatory strategies of actors.
A dynamic view on interactions between academic spin-offs and their parent organizations
Technovation, 2013
ABSTRACT Literature on academic spin-offs gives evidence of different modes of interaction betwee... more ABSTRACT Literature on academic spin-offs gives evidence of different modes of interaction between spin-offs and their parent and their relative role in different modes of knowledge production. In this article, we examine the development of interactions between academic spin-offs and their parent organizations over a mid- to long-term period (4–15 years), drawing on a series of 25 case studies of spin-off/parent pairs from France and Switzerland. We show that the relational trajectories can be captured by four major dynamic patterns. These patterns range from an early cut-off of interactions in line with a linear model of innovation to sustained interactions supporting joint production of knowledge. Some patterns even include a change in the mode of knowledge production over time. In addition, we identify a number of determinants, internal or external to the pair, affecting the dynamic pattern. We conclude that management of spin-off processes and support policies for academic spin-offs should embrace this dynamic diversity.
Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Jul 1, 2012
This article investigates the interplay of expectation dynamics and innovation processes at the l... more This article investigates the interplay of expectation dynamics and innovation processes at the level of organizations and at the innovation system level. We examine how different kinds of organizations contributed and responded to a recent hype and disappointment cycle in the field of stationary fuel cells. Among others, we trace how innovation and discourse activities changed and we explain the observed differences in strategic responses. We show that the sensitivity of organizations to expectation dynamics depends on at least three factors: the strategic embedding of the new technology, the organization's dependence on external legitimacy and its role in the innovation system. Moreover, we show thatin their aggregationstrategic responses affected the level of the technological innovation system as well. Not only did the pace and direction of innovation activities change, but structures such as actor constellations and institutions were also modified. Our study thus provides insights into the interplay of expectation and innovation dynamics, which is important for our understanding of larger transformation processes, e.g. toward more sustainable modes of energy supply.
Technology Analysis and Strategic Management, Jul 1, 2006
Shaping Emerging Technologies
Expansions of nanotechnology
Little by Little. Expansions of Nanoscience and Emerging Technologies
ABSTRACT
Technology Analysis & Strategic Management, 2006
ABSTRACT The article investigates three mechanisms by which expectation dynamics affect innovatio... more ABSTRACT The article investigates three mechanisms by which expectation dynamics affect innovation processes. Empirically, it focuses on hypedisappointment cycles in electronic commerce and interactive television, drawing on results from qualitative case studies and secondary ...
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Papers by Kornelia Konrad