Is SwissCovid a Responsible Innovation for a Grand Societal Challenge? The Case for Better Deliberative Capacities in Innovation Governance

Addressing Grand Societal Challenges (GSC) requires that public, private, and non-profit actors join forces for analyzing problems and developing innovative solutions in multi-actor, multi-level collaborations. Responsible Innovation (RI) is a framework that aims to develop innovations that (1) do not harm and (2) do good to people and planet through (3) structures and processes of responsible governance. Responsible governance helps in facilitating avoiding harm and doing good innovations and managing the tensions that are likely to emerge from participants’ diverse rationales, heterogeneous worldviews, and conflicting objectives. While deliberation has been suggested as a core element in innovation governance and has been regarded as a panacea to help balance these tensions, it appears fair to say that it only does so when it meets certain qualifications. In this chapter, we therefore build on the literature of deliberative democracy and argue that addressing tensions that arise in innovation governance requires that deliberation is authentic, inclusive, and consequential. As an illustration, we apply these criteria to assess the development of the SwissCovid contact tracing app, an innovation which aimed at containing the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. Further building on this case, we identify that the behavior of participants in the innovation process as well as the complexity and urgency of the issue it aims to address can challenge the quality of deliberation and through this the responsible character of the innovation. Finally, we suggest the establishment and enforcement of robust institutional safeguards and principles to enhance the quality of deliberative capacities in innovation governance. This chapter contributes to the literature by addressing the issue of deliberation quality in innovation governance.