Abstract
In recent years, STS has been heavily involved in developing alternative ways of shaping innovation through more inclusive design and development processes. Whether co-creation, living labs, or other approaches linked to the broader discourse on responsible research and innovation, they have all sought to make emerging innovations more value-sensitive and inclusive. However, by focusing on the moments of creation and emergence, and on a relatively narrow framing for assessing the impact of these innovations, we often do not pay enough attention to the more complex and long-term futures of so-called 'innovation residues'. Residues are those left-behinds/overflows that gradually get entangled with the environment and stay with us for a long time - far beyond the moments of production or consumption, and far beyond the time horizons we usually think of when assessing the value of innovations.
Ulrike Felt's ERC Advanced Grant "Innovation Residues - Modes and Infrastructures of Caring for our longue-durée environmental futures" (https://www.innovation-residues.eu) explores these complex relationships that contemporary societies have with the left-behinds of their innovation activities (nuclear waste, microplastcis and data/digital waste) and our apparent difficulties in address "slow environmental disasters".
Overall, the presentation is an invitation to think about responsible innovation from the perspective of the residues and our capacities to care for them.
About Ulrike Felt
Ulrike Felt is Professor of Science and Technology Studies, and Head of the Department of Science and Technology Studies at the University of Vienna. Read more about her here.
Seminar at the Science Studies Colloquium Series
On May 29 the Science Studies Colloquium Series and TIK are hosting a collaborative seminar with Ulrike Felt, titled "The environmental limits to digital solutionism: Challenging the European Commission's 'twin transition' imaginary". The presentation will focus on the 'twin transition' as a buzzword in European policy discourse, and draw on the research project Innovation Residues - Modes and Infrastructures of Caring for our Longue-durée Environmental Futures.