Spaces for responsible innovation in entrepreneurship — A conceptual analysis

Responsible research and innovation (RRI) is a concept that is currently being heavily promoted by research funders, led by the European Commission. Research undertaken in the next Framework Programme, Horizon 2020, is expected to be led by RRI which will be a cross-cutting theme of all European funded research. National funders (e.g. the Dutch NVO or British EPSRC) are similarly experimenting with RRI. One problem of this current discourse is that it is heavily weighted in favour of publicly funded research and innovation activities. It mostly neglects the important role that entrepreneurs outside of publicly funded research can play. This paper therefore explores the relationship of RRI and entrepreneurship in a technological environment. It does so by offering a comparison of an entrepreneur, a technology entrepreneur, an intrapreneur and a manager. It then moves to the description of the space of RRI which is constituted by the three axes of actors, activities and normative foundations. This space of RRI is then explored to locate possible roles of entrepreneurship. This provides a conceptual basis for future empirical research as well as policy interventions in an international context.