Emerging Technologies and Innovation—Hopes for and Obstacles to Inclusive Societal Co-Construction

Abstract

Since the late twentieth century, the concept of emerging technologies, fields designated as such and their governance have received increasing attention in academia, the media and policymaking. This also applies to the strongly interdisciplinary field of technology assessment (TA), sustainability research (SR), and activities and discussions about responsible (research and) innovation (RI/RRI). A crucial question in this context is how these technologies can be developed and governed in an inclusive manner in order to foster societally beneficial and widely accepted innovations. Given the diversity of values and socio-economic interests, such inclusive societal co-construction is not easy to achieve. Discussing various fields of emerging technology (applications) and based on the results of pertinent earlier research and dialogue activities, this article analyses hopes for and obstacles to such co-construction. It concludes with a plea to integrate meta-consensus approaches in governance conceptions for emerging technologies in RI/RRI, SR and TA.