“Innovation and Inclusion” as the plenary theme for the next Responsible Organising Conference - let’s transform society!
It is because when designing new cars and testing the safety of the new models, the body of a “Reference Man” is systematically used, so although women are less likely to crash than men, they get more serious injuries when they do.
Cars are only one example of innovations that have, throughout history, impacted and transformed our daily-life. In general, innovations are shaping our world and we consider them as vital for progress, increasing human welfare and solving societal challenges. We associate them with efficiency, creativity and technology and often describe them with positive adjectives such as ”cutting-edge,” ”forward-looking” or ”solution-oriented”.
But are innovations always contributing to making the world a better place? What if innovations are exclusive, not equitable or if they threaten one aspect of sustainability while trying to solve the other? What are the consequences of non-responsible innovation?
Katja Toropainen was in the leadership team of Slush for the past two years and she now founded Inklusiiv, an inclusion movement that advances diversity and inclusion in the worklife:
- “In tech, there are a lot of stereotypes, biases and prejudices that impede inclusion and limit the full potential of the industry. We need to show that diversity and inclusion matter, because they can help build extraordinarily powerful organisations.”
In this plenary session, we will wonder how to think about innovations in another way than we tend to do?
Instead of being trapped in the limelight of innovation we should ask what it ‘does’ to us in different contexts, situations and positions.
For more information about the conference, go here. For questions, do not hesitate to contact responsible.organising (at) hanken.fi!