Contact Tracing Apps for the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Responsible Innovation Perspective

Abstract

AbstractThe COVID-19 pandemic has brought about the first real opportunity to test the efficacy of the Responsible Research and Innovation framework or RRI in a global health crisis. This is in view of the bold new approaches to health research and innovation that the pandemic has paved the way for. One such approach is the digital contact tracing application (CTA). Although contact tracing has been a fundamental part of infectious disease control for decades, this is the first time this technique has been used in mobile applications. Based on a Multivocal Literature Review, the development of CTAs in four countries – France, Germany, Spain, and the UK – was assessed to understand what dimensions of RRI can be identified in the governments’ response to COVID-19. This chapter shows that although from 2011, RRI has been promoted as a governance approach for increasing societal desirability of the processes and products of science and technology, very little is known about how the framework may be applied in a health crisis. Notwithstanding that RRI was not explicitly referenced during the development of CTAs in France, the UK, Spain, and Germany, the analysis has identified some interesting linkage to this framework. It shows that while no RRI approach was explicitly embraced by these governments, some key components were present – even though inadequately. It also indicates that, while it is challenging to apply RRI in crises, there is value in using it as an analytical tool for techno-social responses in situations, like those created by the COVID-19 health crisis.