This paper addresses the question of how Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) can
be implemented in Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs). It builds on existing knowledge
about RRI in business as well as on insights into motivations, drivers and barriers from the related
fields of eco-innovation and sustainability innovation. Expert interviews with CEOs of SMEs in the
Austrian medical device sector are analyzed to develop insights into the companies' research and
innovation activities and potential drivers and barriers for RRI. The findings support the assumption
that SMEs are largely unaware of the RRI concept. At the same time, however, it is possible to identify
current practices that already operationalize aspects of RRI. It is argued that SMEs could build upon
existing practices to further develop ways of being responsible and that implementation of RRI
should be in line with specific organizational and contextual factors.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:VIENNA/oai:epub.wu-wien.ac.at:5956 |
| Date | 22 December 2017 |
| Creators | Auer, Alexander, Jarmai, Katharina |
| Publisher | MDPI AG |
| Source Sets | Wirtschaftsuniversität Wien |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Article, PeerReviewed |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | Creative Commons: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) |
| Relation | http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/su10010017, http://www.mdpi.com/, http://www.mdpi.com/journal/sustainability/special_issues/RRI, http://www.mdpi.com/journal/sustainability, http://epub.wu.ac.at/5956/ |
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