Abstract
This chapter is an effort to promote and guide thinking about the global and local challenges in how governments respond to innovative and disruptive projects and technologies. The chapter is based on the considerations of and concerns regarding the challenges and changes that we face on a global scale and how it impacts on the notion and need for innovation. Not all inventions or innovations are disruptive or serve the interest of the public at large, and some even may have serious harmful consequences or impacts. These may be unforeseen or sometimes deliberately obscured and perhaps just serve the narrow interests of profiteers. Governments are required to consider their roles and plan to be responsible and proactive to ensure that the best interests of both the business and public sector are pursued for the purposes of long-term sustainability.
TopMethodology And Focus
This chapter proposes to look at existing literature generated by scholars who have approached the subject from a management science point of view, and in particular valuable work done and published in the fields of innovation. The author uses journal publications, and in some cases institutional and news publications (secondary research), and in particular the most recent publications in the fields of responsible and sustainable management of innovation and new technologies. It is the intention to challenge scholars in governmental sciences and public policy, as well as those industries and enterprises that function in relationship with governments from a policy dependence position. The proposal is that stakeholders consider various proposed approaches and policy considerations in response to the challenges posed by changing global environments, as well as concomitant disruptive innovations. An awareness, that governments also need to be innovative and smart about the challenges that these trends and changes pose, must be developed. This chapter will focus on the question of how governments can respond to these challenges, within a proposed model derived from existing literature. This model would propose to assist all the major actors in the state to become responsive and responsible innovators, with a focus on sustainability, as they proceed with such developments.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Disruptive Innovations: Innovations that create entirely new markets through the introduction of a new service or product, that tends to disrupt some of the existing systems or established methods or products in favor of an alternative, emerging as a result of innovative thinking and often the production of new or smart information technologies.
Sustainable Innovation: Is an approach that applies in particular to the manner in which we develop and assess or evaluate the value of innovations that are supported to ensure positive and lasting long-term outcomes and impacts of innovative and new technologies.
CASI-Framework: This refers to a common framework for the assessment and management of sustainable innovation, directed at assisting academics and practitioners to assess and manage the more intangible, but important elements that are important for sustainable innovation in order to facilitate “socio-technical” system adoption and implementation.
Innovation: New or novel approaches to the way we work, systems are designed, redesigned to meet rapidly changing and growing needs in society. Often viewed as how problems are resolved in order to produce better and often creative outcomes; and are often a result of new and more effective, efficient, and productive solutions to both the inputs as well as throughput operations in a system.
Public Policy Analysis: Process of generating policy relevant information, and applied for, or used to generate policy solutions, plans for implementation, and proposals for evaluation, and ensuring the success of policy intentions.
RPI Model for Governance: Refer to the application of the concepts of strategic roles, processes, and instruments for good innovation governance.
Governance: General approach to the management of services that include the overall management of all of the processes by the government or by the private sector and their associated networks either through the laws, norms, power structures, or language, culture, and traditions of an organized society in order to ensure a healthy and economically viable state.
RRI Dimensions: This term refers to the general application of responsible, responsive actions to manage innovation.
Public Policy Frameworks: Framework (usually legal in nature) to provide the basis on which policy decisions can be made, and actions can be taken to give effect to policy goals and objectives agreed on within the political or organizational system.