Essays and tools on science, innovation, the power they shape and their implications for justice.
Rarely has a technology so suddenly dominated strategic conversations, roadmaps, and investment decisions as AI does today. Displaying one's adoption has become a signal, sent to markets, boards, and clients, sometimes before the use itself has even been defined. Adopt first, look for the problem later.The social and environmental impact sector is caught up in the same dynamic.
France is going through a heatwave unlike anything it has seen, and summer has barely begun. Daily life is becoming unbearable: schools are asking parents to keep their children home so they do not bake in classrooms at 35 °C, construction workers are risking their lives, and those who can stay shut away in the dark at home. Yet the bulk of activity carries on as if nothing were happening. Everything is ill-adapted, but we keep going, suffering, waiting for it to pass.
A few weeks ago, during a conference on artificial intelligence for science, someone in the audience asked a very common question. The framing was familiar because it appears almost systematically whenever new technologies are discussed: “AI is a tool and like any tool, it can be used for good or bad. So how do we make sure it is used responsibly?”
This practical guide distills key learnings from fifteen years of running responsible research and innovation programs with industry, researchers, social entrepreneurs, NGOs and local authorities. It explains why traditional attempts to open up research tend to plateau, how to co-create research with society rather than merely consulting it, when and at what scale to involve civil society (and why waiting for advanced technology-readiness levels is almost always too late), and how to rethink the economic, social and environmental valorization of research.
Written for the public research world, especially research organizations, universities and funding agencies, as well as policymakers looking to organize research and innovation differently. The guide is available in both English and French.