RRI Beyond Its Comfort Zone: Initiating a Dialogue with Frugal Innovation by ‘the Vulnerable’

Abstract

Responsible research and innovation (RRI) aims at mitigating the negative unintended consequences of technologies, developed by large business organisations, on society and environment. Scholars point out that the broader ethical underpinnings of RRI in terms of ‘transparency, interaction and mutual responsiveness’ are difficult to achieve in a typical business environment as conforming to these principles may erode the very competitive advantages the corporations seek to achieve through innovations. At the same time, the scholarship on frugal innovations by ‘the vulnerable’ puts forward an alternative narrative of innovations. Seeking to respond to the gap created by the apparatus of the mainstream market, and the State, these innovations reflect many pro-social motivations, and desire for inclusive development. The two discourses, however, remain isolated from each other. Our article is an attempt to initiate a dialogue between them. We intend to widen the scope and ambit of both RRI and the frugal innovation scholarships, which might help garner more policy and social support in favour of developing socially relevant, inclusive and context-specific innovations.