7: Inclusion as an STI policy objective for better worlds (Helka Kalliomäki, Johanna Kalliokoski, Kaisa Lähteenmäki-Smith, Essi Laitinen)
Inclusion as a policy objective has been increasing its significance in science, technology and innovation (STI) policy agendas globally. It aims at building more sustainable and future-proof societies through including diverse perspectives, actors and competences in STI activities and processes, as well as more transdisciplinary and cross-sectoral approaches to innovation. As contemporary innovation policies have often been criticized for neglecting the views of marginalized groups, and mainstream innovation has been associated with social unsustainability due to growing inequalities (e.g. Cozzens 2021), inclusive approaches to STI policy-making seems essential. The conceptual foundations of inclusion as an STI policy objective have been explored in the STI policy literature from multiple perspectives in order to clarify the terminology, concepts and processes associated with inclusion (e.g. Heeks et al. 2014; Mortazawi et al. 2021). The starting point of theorizing has often been to position inclusive innovation in between innovation and development studies, focusing on marginalized groups and communities (Heeks et al. 2014). As inclusion is addressed in increasingly diverse contexts, effective policy implementation needs to deal with a number of new challenges, for example with blurring of policy language and mixing of means and ends, insufficient policy alignment, poor cross-sector coordination, and lack of competencies (e.g. Planes-Satorra and Paunov 2017). In this track we invite papers that discuss and debate inclusion as an STI policy objective from diverse, also critical, perspectives. We wish to discuss the possibilities related to inclusive policies in better world-making, but also the challenges and difficult trade-offs related to the objective. The topics discussed in this session can include but are not limited to the following:
- Conceptualizing inclusion as an STI policy objective and identifying the forms and tools of policy options, as well as their impacts on different societal stakeholder groups;
- The potential for improving the society and its sustainability and the underlying tensions and conflicts that this entails;
- The role of diverse societal actors (including, e.g., citizens and users) in policy design and delivery (e.g. missions, programmes, agendas);
- Wide variety of contexts in which inclusion is visible as a policy objective (e.g. mission-oriented innovation policy, gender equal policies).
Keywords: inclusion, STI policy