Characterizing ELSI/RRI/RI Frameworks and their Links to Innovation Management Theory

The concepts of ethical, legal, and societal issues (ELSI), responsible research and innovation (RRI), and responsible innovation (RI) are recognized and encouraged in the current research and development activities. However, there is a lack of understanding of how these concepts are formed and deepened. Considering this issue, we extracted precedented literature on ELSI, RI, and RRI and conducted a bibliometric investigation from geographical, intellectual, technological, and cognitive perspectives. We then operationalized a dataset of prior literature on innovation research and investigated how these concepts interrelate with other innovation research topics. These findings and a proposed conceptual framework provide a basis for a deeper understanding of the historical development process of research on ELSI, RI, and RRI, as well as suggestions on how these are positioned and mutually developed in technology and innovation management research.