Who is Responsible for Responsible Innovation? Lessons From an Investigation into Responsible Innovation in Health Comment on "What Health System Challenges Should Responsible Innovation in Health Address? Insights From an International Scoping Review"

Abstract

Responsible innovation in health (RIH) takes the ideas of responsible research and innovation (RRI) and applies them to the health sector. This comment takes its point of departure from Lehoux et al which describes a structured literature review to determine the system-level challenges that health systems in countries at different levels of human development face. This approach offers interesting insights from the perspective of RRI, but it also raises the question whether and how RRI can be steered and achieved across healthcare systems. This includes the question who, if anybody, is responsible for responsible innovation and which insights can be drawn from the systemic nature RIH.

Fostering Responsible Innovation in Health: An EvidenceInformed Assessment Tool for Innovation Stakeholders

“…All of these likely applications of the RIH Tool are not without tensions and thus form important areas for further research. 17 It is particularly important to examine the application and outcomes of the RIH Tool in a real-world setting. While the current study was designed to establish whether the Tool perform well (ie, show consistent results) when it is applied under the right conditions, knowing whether similar results are observed when the Tool is applied by raters who are less familiar with its attributes and scales is important.…”

“…Despite the growing importance attached to RIH 17 and to innovations that can better address population health needs and system-level challenges, there are currently no tools that can help to determine whether an innovation fulfills RIH requirements. To bridge this research and policy gap, we developed and validated an evidence-informed assessment RIH Tool, which was designed to capture the upstream characteristics of a broad range of health innovations.…”

Revisiting the Relationship Between Systems of Innovation and Health Systems: A Response to Recent Commentaries

“…Peine 5 and Stahl 6 underscored the reciprocal relationship between health systems and innovations, a point we discussed elsewhere. 7 What should have been understood as "two analytically separate entities" 5 are not 'health systems' and 'innovation. '…”

“…It would seem presumptuous to disagree with the notion that steering technological development is very difficult. 2,4,6 Yet, how do scholars explain the striking similarities between technologies developed in the past decades? Weren't they developed with a certain demand in mind and a certain understanding of market opportunities?…”

“…8 RIH calls for "an entire research programme" 6 and Stahl 6 nails down the key question: who is responsible for RIH? Our own work seeks to clarify the "overlapping networks" 6 of responsibilities that connect stakeholders together. In a qualitative study, we found that Canadian health innovators were supportive of RIH and called for regulations and public policies to foster its implementation.…”