Responsive Ethics and Participation

Foreword ix

Bernard REBER

Acknowledgments xv

Introduction xvii

Chapter 1 Defining Ethics and Participation 1

1.1 Ethical challenges in research and innovation 2

1.1.1 Ethics in governance of research and innovation 2

1.1.2 Bottom-up approaches 6

1.2 Facing responsibility 10

1.2.1 The notion of responsibility in innovation 10

1.2.2 Ethics and technology assessment: at the root of responsible innovation 14

1.2.3 From ethics of technology to responsible research and innovation 18

1.3 Public participation and the ideal of participatory democracy 22

1.3.1 Public participation in research and innovation 22

1.3.2 Participation in technology assessment 26

1.3.3 From broad participatory practices to deliberation 29

1.4 The diverse field of participation 33

1.4.1 Defining participatory activities: types and timelines 33

1.4.2. Defining participants: types of actors and visions of engagement 37

1.4.3 Finding value in participation 42

1.4.4 Models of participation 45

1.5 Conclusion 48

Chapter 2 Regulations on Ethics and Participation 49

2.1 Policies and regulations on the ethics of innovation 49

2.1.1 Main regulations on research ethics and research integrity 49

2.1.2 Ethics assessment: a standard in European funding programs 54

2.2. Analysis of current European regulations on ethics and participation 58

2.2.1 The different institutional configurations for ethics and participation 58

2.2.2 The current deadlocks of European regulatory bodies 63

2.2.3 Ethics of participation: current boundaries 68

2.3 Soft law on participatory approaches 70

2.3.1 Re-shaping participatory approaches through soft law: toward a normative instrument 70

2.4 Beyond regulations: institutional needs for ethical participation 73

2.4.1 The needs from a governance point of view 73

2.4.2 Identifying good practices and criteria for ethical participation 77

2.5 Conclusion 82

Chapter 3 Ethical Participation 85

3.1 How mainstream is citizen participation? 86

3.1.1 A case study on research funding organizations 86

3.1.2 Citizens' low involvement in R&I processes 91

3.1.3 Prevailing types of participation 98

3.2 Leveraging the funding of R&I for a novel approach to participation 102

3.2.1 Context-sensitive specificities 102

3.2.2 Expectations and legitimacy in the funding of R&I 104

3.2.3 The impact of participatory practices 111

3.3 Addressing the needs of research funding organizations 114

3.3.1 Standardized approaches and the European discrepancies 114

3.3.2 Ethical grounds meeting public scrutiny 117

3.4 Toward an ethics framework 119

3.4.1. Finding common paths and compromises in R&I governance 119

3.4.2 Main critical factors facing institutions 123

3.5 An ethics framework for participation 125

3.5.1 Some guidelines for future ethics frameworks 125

3.5.2 A tentative ethics framework 128

Conclusion 133

Appendices 143

Appendix 1: Categories Considered in the Case Study on Research Funding Organizations 145

Appendix 2: Tentative Ethics Framework 149

References 179

Index 193