The neoclassical model of growth suggests that developed economies may have reached a state in which ever-increasing input achieves less and less growth, accelerating the demand for 'disruptive' technologies to stimulate GDP. Responsible (Research and) Innovation (RI) was originally conceived as a way of shaping innovation towards filling real social needs rather than merely generating profit (Owen, Macnaghten, & Stilgoe 2012), however, it has increasingly been used to strengthen the same growth paradigm it was meant to challenge.

Our thesis is that the promise of RI can only be fulfilled in an enabling economic framework which accepts planetary limitations. This requires critical examination of the political economy of innovation, which has largely been left out of discussion about RI. The Fourth Quadrant Research Project (4QRP) will bring together scholars from science and technology studies, politics and economics to explore the relationship between the political economy, innovation policy, and socially responsible technology. We will draw from Herman Daly’s (1991) work on Steady State Economics and a range of critical post-crisis economic literature arguing for various heterodox positions from a-growth to degrowth (such as Klitgaard & Krall 2012; Stiglitz et al. 2010; van den Bergh 2011), as well as from socio-historic work on science policy (McNie et al 2016; von Schomberg 2013) and the social shaping of technology (Oudshoorn & Pinch 2003). Together we will develop an edited book of real-world cases to examine what these insights, theories, models and measures might contribute to the discussion of RI, to question the present growth-driven paradigm, and theorise what kinds of innovation - defined as the circulation of all kinds of novelty, some of which may reduce market-based consumption - will be needed to continue social progress in economies which may no longer be capable of GDP growth.