Stakeholders’ contribution towards responsible innovation in information and communication technology research projects

Abstract

Information and Communication Technology (ICT) research projects engage stakeholders who contribute towards different aspects of research and innovation. One of the aspects that stakeholders contribute towards in ICT research projects is responsibility. There is a need for those engaged in ICT research projects to take into consideration the impacts of their activities on society as part of responsible research and innovation (RRI) through finding solutions to emerging societal problems and developing sustainable processes of carrying out research and innovation. In this paper, the focus is two-fold. Firstly, I focus on understanding how stakeholders are identified to contribute towards responsibility in ICT research projects and secondly, I focus on how stakeholders contribute towards responsibility in such projects. I conducted an interpretive case study in which data were collected by semi-structured interviews with 11 stakeholders from two ICT research projects. Through thematic data analysis, their perceptions and understanding of their contribution towards responsibility were conceived. From the study findings, I established that there are problems in understanding the meaning of term ‘responsibility’ among stakeholders which later affects the identification of roles that deal with it. Despite the ambiguity of the meaning, I found that stakeholders contribute towards responsibility in many ways although there are barriers that affect their contribution.