Categories Innovation, Policy
The 'moral imperative' of biotech food
Among the many U.S. diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks is one that details U.S. pressure on the Vatican to change its stance on agricultural biotechnology. U.S. officials stated "We will continue to press the "moral imperative" of biotech... - More
by Redazione FGB, 4 January 2011 Permalink
Read also: Public Participation and the Governance of Innovation and Il potenziale sovversivo di Wikileaks (in Italian)
Categories Biotechnology, Policy
Sustainable Innovation at the American Anthropological Association (AAA)
Last week the American Anthropological Association (AAA) hosted a discussion about sustainable innovation. Grounded in observations of social practice in particular localities, two points were particularly striking. One was the close relationship between responsibility and sustainability; to be responsible, innovation must be sustainable... - More
by Redazione FGB, 2 December 2010 Permalink
Read also: AAA Annual Meeting 2010 and AAA Meeting - Sustainable Innovations
Memory and Responsibility
Last month, with the support of the Bassetti Foundation, more than 60 people met at the Internet Archive in San Francisco to discuss the future of personal digital archives and the implications of innovations and new technologies related to personal and collective memory. ... - More
by Redazione FGB, 24 March 2010 Permalink
Read also: Innovation, Knowledge and Intellectual Property: the Risks of WTO Regulations by Daniele Navarra and Participatory design: an Interview with Dr. Michael Twidale
New Publication from FGB: Conversations on Innovation, Power and Responsibility
The Fondazione Giannino Bassetti's new publication, Conversations on Innovation, Power and Responsibility highlights approaches to responsibility in innovation taken by leading practitioners in disruptive fields. - More
by Redazione FGB, 2 January 2010 Permalink
See also: FGB's publications
Notes from EPIC 2009: Innovation as a commodity
In September I went to Chicago for the Ethnographic Praxis in Industry Conference (EPIC 2009). EPIC draws from a mix of different communities, including design, computing, social science, and anthropology as conducted in academic and corporate research settings. - More
by Redazione FGB, 19 November 2009 Permalink
Categories Media
Towards Transparency -- or Lysenkoism?
Transparency and discussions of values would seem to be a cornerstone of responsibility in innovation. But to be effective, questions and processes of disclosure intended to foster transparency need to focus on those areas where conflicts of interest are meaningful. - More
by Redazione FGB, 4 November 2009 Permalink
Categories Innovation, Policy
Media, Innovation, and Bioethics
Media play a major role in the healthcare system, affecting medical research, public policy, clinical practice, and self care. Many of the goals of bioethical practice, including patient wellness, patient autonomy, and social justice, and the trend in medicine towards... - More
by Redazione FGB, 9 July 2009 Permalink
See also: L'etica del nuovo
Categories Biotechnology, Media
Nature, New Yorker on Cognitive Enhancement
Back in December, Nature published a remarkable editorial, Towards Responsible Use of Cognitive-enhancing Drugs by the Healthy, that concludes "Safe and effective cognitive enhancers will benefit both the individual and society...But it would also be foolish to ignore problems that such use of drugs could create or exacerbate." - More
by Redazione FGB, 5 May 2009 Permalink
See also: Deepening The Public Conversation Around Bioethics and the Call for Comments The implications of innovation in the health field:
false hopes for medicine?
Categories Biotechnology, Sociology
Scott Berkun on Responsibility and Resistance
Scott Berkun is the author of The Myths of Innovation, which examines common pre- and mis-conceptions about innovation, and Making Things Happen, a book about project management. In this wide ranging discussion, Berkun offers some useful definitions of innovation, discusses resistance to innovation, and outlines some ideas on corporate responsibility (and irresponsibility). - More
by Redazione FGB, 14 April 2009 Permalink
See also: New science and new politics by Piero Bassetti
Judith Estrin: Closing the Innovation Gap
In this wide ranging interview, Estrin explains how business and political leaders can embrace policies that embody the values associated with innovation - openness, risk, questioning, persistence, and trust. And she warns that recent changes in business and government practice are putting innovation in the U.S. at risk. - More
by Redazione FGB, 30 January 2009 Permalink
See also: Innovation and Politics by Piero Bassetti
On the Media and Innovation: an Interview with Scott Kirsner
As an observer of innovation across the domains life sciences, clean technology, and media, Kirsner has explored the attraction to and fear of innovation present in many large institutions, and uncovered numerous examples of innovation that reveal aspects of innovators' responsibilities, as well as the deep ambivalence many companies have about innovation. - More
by Redazione FGB, 2 December 2008 Permalink
Categories Interview
Deepening The Public Conversation Around Bioethics (part 2)
In this discussion, Murray sheds light on different thinking processes useful in assessing ethical questions and innovation; particular developments in medicine and biotechnology related to sports and human enhancement; and on the Hastings Center's operations and influence. - More
by Redazione FGB, 7 July 2008 Permalink
Deepening The Public Conversation Around Bioethics (part 1)
In this discussion, Murray sheds light on different thinking processes useful in assessing ethical questions and innovation; particular developments in medicine and biotechnology related to sports and human enhancement; and on the Hastings Center's operations and influence. - More
by Redazione FGB, 3 July 2008 Permalink
By Any Other Name
For people new to the work of the Bassetti Foundation, the concept of "responsibility in innovation" can be somewhat elusive. But like most other general concepts, responsibility in innovation is reflected in a wide variety of disciplines, though often by other names. For example... - More
by Redazione FGB, 8 May 2008 Permalink
Design-Push Innovation: Changing Accepted Meanings (part 2)
An interview with Roberto Verganti (part 2). In this interview, we discuss different types of design innovation, ranging from incremental approaches (such as user-centered design) to more radical, "design-push" innovations that change the meaning associated with products and services. But how can responsibility can be assessed in the context of different types of design innovation? What is the new roles for media, political, and corporate leaders? Can product liability drive greater responsibility in innovation? - More
by Redazione FGB, 21 March 2008 Permalink
Design-Push Innovation: Changing Accepted Meanings (part 1)
An interview with Roberto Verganti. In this interview, we discuss different types of design innovation, ranging from incremental approaches (such as user-centered design) to more radical, "design-push" innovations that change the meaning associated with products and services. But how can responsibility can be assessed in the context of different types of design innovation? What is the new roles for media, political, and corporate leaders? Can product liability drive greater responsibility in innovation? - More
by Redazione FGB, 19 March 2008 Permalink
Categories Design
Dr. Ronald Arkin on Roboethics and Responsibility (part 3)
(...continues from the previous entry) Ubois: Do you see -- I mean, another direction I could see this going is in the ways the lines between warfare and law enforcement get blurrier and blurrier. Arkin: Yeah, but that's why I'm... - More
by Redazione FGB, 18 January 2008 Permalink
Categories Interview, Roboethics
Dr. Ronald Arkin on Roboethics and Responsibility (part 2)
(...continues from the previous entry) Ubois: It's an interesting question of when should you essentially exit a field or exit certain social or power structures, because you can't abide by things any longer. Sort of the Norbert Weiner solution. Or... - More
by Redazione FGB, 15 January 2008 Permalink
Categories Interview, Roboethics
Dr. Ronald Arkin on Roboethics and Responsibility (part 1)
Dr. Ronald Arkin is a Professor in the College of Computing at the Georgia Institute of Technology, and Director of the Mobile Robot Laboratory. In this discussion, he outlines the ethical aspects of robotics, especially those used in war; embedding... - More
by Redazione FGB, 12 January 2008 Permalink
Categories Interview, Roboethics
See also: Participatory design (part 1)
Categories Interview, Software development
See also: Participatory design (part 1)
Participatory design: an Interview with Dr. Michael Twidale (part 1)
Dr. Michael Twidale is an associate professor at the Graduate School of Library and Information Science at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. In this discussion, he offers insights into IRBs, participatory design, managing design tradeoffs, ethics and empowerment. - More
by Redazione FGB, 12 October 2007 Permalink
An Interview with Dr.Marc Smith
Dr. Marc Smith is a Senior Research Sociologist leading the Community Technologies Group at Microsoft Research in Redmond, WA. His group focuses on computer-mediated collective action, and he studies and design enhancements for social cyberspaces. In particular, he is interested... - More
by Redazione FGB, 10 July 2007 Permalink
See also: Microspheres by Andrea Pitasi
Categories Sociology, Software development
Transparency, Privacy, and Responsibility: An Interview with Jeff Jonas
More directly and obviously than many forms of innovation, software embodies the values of those who create it. This is particularly true of software used to monitor and direct human activity: in the extreme, it can be a tool that saves lives, or one that enables political repression. Software development therefore provides many examples of responsibility in innovation. As a leading innovator in the field of data analysis, Jeff Jonas has thought deeply about the social and political implications related to technological advances in surveillance, the loss of privacy, and the use of computerized monitoring systems by governments and corporations. - More
by Redazione FGB, 5 June 2007 Permalink
Categories Interview, Software development
Responsibility in Innovation: A Survey of Coming Attractions in Nanotechnology
A Conversation with Lawrence Gasman Lawrence Gasman is the cofounder of NanoMarkets, LLC and author of the recent book, Nanotechnology Applications and Markets, which examines the market for nanotechnology in the healthcare, energy, and information technology sectors, and provides a generalized approach to forecasting the impact of nanotechnology on particular companies and industries. In this interview, Gasman emphasizes several likely near term discontinuities based on nanotechnology. And he offers some insight into possible social effects, and the limits of regulation. And yet without an ability to forecast developments, what kind of responsibility is possible? - More
by Redazione FGB, 22 March 2007 Permalink
See also: Nanotechnology
Categories Interview, Nanotechnology
Christine Peterson of the Foresight Institute
If you really want to know how create a sense of responsibility, look at the software development community. Talk about political activism...They see their work as political. They see it as ethics-based. - More
by Redazione FGB, 21 February 2007 Permalink
Categories Interview
Genetic Testing and its Implications: an interview with Dr. Arthur Caplan
In this discussion, Dr. Arthur Caplan discusses the implications of genetic screening, pre-natal testing, pre-natal gender selection, reproductive freedom, political education, and neurological enhancement, all within the context of responsibility in innovation, and with a nod to how effects may differ in different cultures around the world. - More
by Redazione FGB, 25 November 2006 Permalink
An Interview With Dr. Ignacio Chapela
Ignacio Chapela is an assistant professor at University of California Berkeley, who, with colleague David Quist, discovered that illegally grown, genetically modified corn contaminated traditional heirloom corn in Oaxaca, Mexico. That discovery touched off a major controversy, and illuminates many... - More
by Redazione FGB, 17 November 2006 Permalink
Categories Biotechnology, Interview
Introduction
Over the next few months, I'll be exploring issues related to responsibility in innovation by exploring technologies with significant but not always obvious societal implications through a series of interviews with noted inventors, practitioners, ethicists, academics, and thought leaders in... - More
by Redazione FGB, 15 November 2006 Permalink
