In this contribution, we explore the possibilities of Responsible Innovation (RI) to assess and support the engagement of businesses in the spectrum of Social and Solidarity Economy (SSE) and, in particular, cooperatives to the implementation of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) at the firm level. We conduct a critical review of the academic literature on sustainable development and responsible innovation, focusing on the role of business to identify how firms in the spectrum of SSE can contribute through responsible innovation to the sustainable development agenda and how firms in the spectrum of SSE can benefit from it. Results suggest that firms can benefit from responsible innovation in the transformation of their business models. On the other hand, firms in the spectrum of SSE contribute to extending the scope of SDGs to business, not focusing on what cooperatives do by their nature (e.g., principles and values), but their contribution to key horizontal enablers (e.g., partnership and innovation) for the integration of firms in the sustainable development agenda. To our knowledge, this is the first time that the relationship between SSE firms and RI is assessed from the perspective of firms’ contribution to SDGs. Further research is needed to sophisticate the translation of particular tools developed in the framework of RI to firms in the spectrum of SSE and, in particular, cooperative firms.

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ResumenLa política científica y tecnológica europea ha propuesto alinear mejor el proceso y los resultados de las actividades de investigación e ingeniería con los valores, las necesidades y las expectativas de la sociedad europea. No obstante, esta progresiva radicalización de la narrativa, como respuesta a las demandas de mayor responsabilidad, debe lidiar con otros discursos del presente que operan como prescripciones ideológicas y conciben la innovación como motor de la competitividad económica. Hay una tensión de base que se evidencia en la aparente paradoja del nuevo contexto social de la actividad científico-tecnológica sometida, por un lado, a una creciente demanda de modelos responsables de investigación e innovación y, por otro, instrumentalizada para resultados macroeconómicos. Nuestra estrategia de análisis sugiere rescatar esta cuestión ligada a los intereses que concurren en la generación del conocimiento, los criterios que rigen las dinámicas del régimen científico-tecnológico y los valores que orientan las políticas científicas. En la tensión de base encontramos una infinidad de elementos heterogéneos que en ocasiones se contradicen y que disputan entre sí por formas alternativas de instrumentalizar y regular las dinámicas del sistema de ciencia, tecnología e innovación. En la gobernanza de esa tensión se constituye el modelo de investigación e innovación que las políticas europeas y nacionales desarrollan como respuesta a los desafíos globales. Palabras clave: Investigación e innovación responsables; política; valores; gobernanza. The Constitution of a Responsible Research and Innovation Policy:Tensions in Implementation and Regulation AbstractEuropean scientific and technological policy recommends better aligning the process and results of activities of research and engineering with the values, needs, and expectations of European society. Nevertheless, this progressive intensification of the narrative, as a response to demands for greater responsibility, must contend with other present discourses that function as ideological prescriptions and envisage innovation as a motor for economic competitiveness. There is a basic tension that is clear in the apparent paradox of the new social context of scientific-technological activity, which, on the one hand, is subject to a growing demand for responsible models of research and innovation, and on the other hand, is implemented for macroeconomic results. Our analysis strategy is to reclaim this issue, which is closely linked to the interests that intersect in the generation of knowledge, the criteria that govern the dynamics of the scientific-technological system, and the values that guide scientific policy. Within this basic tension we find a myriad of heterogeneous elements that sometimes contradict each other and that compete amongst themselves for alternative ways to implement and regulate the dynamics of the system of science,

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The present article postulates the value of the new ways of looking at the relations between science, technology, public / policies and society. On the one hand, Science and Technology Studies / foreshadow / alternative models for understanding the governance of science. On the other, within the institutional framework at the heart of the “Horizon 2020” strategy, the political language associated with responsible research and innovation (RRI) is gaining in importance, arguing that those who engage in research and engineering activities should do a better job of aligning their processes and outcomes with the values, needs and expectations of European society. The article offers a critical dialogue between the theoretical advances and the new political language, and suggests that the significance, scope and application of an RRI-based focus will depend on the economic and sociopolitical dynamics by which science and technology are instrumentalised and regulated.