Alexander Herwix
This workshop is aimed at researchers, practitioners, and students who want to gain a better understanding of how systemic design can contribute to responsible innovation (RI). RI is an ideal set of guiding principles for managing and governing emerging technologies (and other innovations) in a way that is consistent with democratic values. As such, RI’s vision resonates with the ideals of systemic design as expressed, for example, in Jones’ “Systemic Design Principles for Complex Social Systems” (2014). Still, it places a stronger emphasis on proactively harnessing and managing the opportunities and risks of innovation for our societies. A key issue for RI, and for systemic design in general, is how to translate an abstract theoretical understanding of relevant theoretical ideals, goals, and challenges into contextually appropriate action in the field. Therefore, this workshop is specifically designed to engage the participants in the collaborative development of useful footholds that help them to better navigate the tensions between theory and practice. In particular, the main goal of the workshop is to cocreate one or more “min specs” that distil the diverse knowledge and experiences of the participants into unique sets of guidelines that can effectively guide action in practice. In addition, participants will be encouraged to identify, develop, and commit to practical next steps for putting these guidelines into practice. In order to make the workshop accessible to the widest possible audience, no significant prior knowledge will be required.
KEYWORDS: systemic design, responsible innovation, theory-practice gap
RSD TOPIC(S): Methods & Methodology, Sociotechnical Systems
Facilitator/organiser profile
Alexander Herwix is a proactive and engaged research entrepreneur with a focus on contributing to the realization of humanity’s full potential. His long-term goal is to contribute to our collective ability to responsibly manage our transition to a long-term sustainable economic system at the individual, organisational, and societal levels. As part of this journey, he has completed a doctoral degree in Information Systems at the University of Cologne, co-founded several research-led transdisciplinary initiatives, and developed and taught a highly rated interdisciplinary course on problem-solving in the 21st century.
Contact: Alexander Herwix, Dr. rer. pol., University of Cologne, herwix@wiso.uni-koeln.de
Reference
Jones, P. H. (2014). Systemic Design Principles for Complex Social Systems. In G. S. Metcalf (Ed.), Social Systems and Design (pp. 91–128). Springer Japan. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-4-431-54478-4_4