Targeting Inequality through Science and Innovation Policy: Undone Science versus Inclusive Innovation

• In Event: How Do Governance Mechanisms for Science and Technology Travel Across Borders? 2

Abstract

Over the past two decades, the theories of undone science and inclusive innovation were created to explain knowledge generation and research and development (R&D) for marginalized communities. The undone science framework stems from the sociology of science and describes the systematic neglect of scientific issues that impact marginalized groups. The inclusive innovation framework was created by development and innovation scholars to emphasize the need to produce innovations that directly benefit marginalized groups.
Despite their similar goals, the undone science and inclusive innovation communities have not interacted with each other, and as a result, the insights from each framework fail to help other disciplines improve opportunities for marginalized groups. This paper compares the two theories by examining the prominent literature in each field. We find that inclusive innovation helps categorize the level of inclusion of technologies and give guidelines to make the downstream science and technology policies more inclusive. Undone science, on the other hand, offers a suite of concepts that shape upstream R&D agendas. The concepts also occupy different geo-political spaces. Inclusive innovation focuses on marginalized groups in low income countries while undone science is primarily focused on marginalized groups in wealthy nations. We hope our research brings together these frameworks so that society can conduct science, and create innovation that help more marginalized communities.

Authors

• Thomas S Woodson, Stony Brook University

• Logan Dawn April Williams, Inclusive Research By Design