| dc.description.abstract | This thesis presents an exploratory interpretive case study that attempts to understand how the notion of Responsible Innovation (RI), originated in the Global North, is perceived and framed in a Chinese context, particularly at a local and grassroots level. Namely, how RI is translated and made sense of in China at such a level and how it should or could be taken forward. To this end, a fieldwork has been conducted in Changsha County, Hunan Province, China in 2015 during which data have been obtained through participant observation, semi-structured interviews, document and field artefacts collection. A novel 3-Tier Analytical Framework inspired by Discourse Analysis (DA) and Actor-network Theory (ANT) has been developed to analyse the empirical data, which implies an experimental methodological venture of this thesis. Findings suggest that in the Chinese context, firstly, the power of discourse in and around innovation and responsibility is manifested in the mobilisation of responses from various societal actors – generated from a powerful actor, the Chinese government, and travelled across various actor-networks enrolled, representing a top-down approach of innovation governance. Secondly, a unique framing of RI in China is that advocating innovation and entrepreneurship itself is a manifestation of RI practice, and that innovating for survival, development, and economic growth is being responsible and is the ‘responsibility imperative’ – the imperative is innovation itself as a meta responsibility, or in other words, responsibility can be regarded as an institution of innovation where the responsibility imperative of innovation is the responsibility to innovate. Finally, China is going through the transitioning process of moving from technology determinism to reflexive modernisation, during which RI has travelled to the field context and served as a provocative term that challenges people’s perception, arouses their contemplation and reflection on the evolving relationship between innovation, responsibility, and the wider society. | en_GB |
