An expert is a person who know more and more about less and less, until she/he knows everything about nothing. Yes, been there and done that.
That’s why projects such as CASI are dramatically important. They make us know more and more about more and more, while at the same time ensuring that we never get it ’right’.
CASI has addressed citizens, stakeholders, policy makers, public organisations, businesses, civil society organisations, as well as research & education. Numerous types of sustainable innovation have been examined and a whopping 1566 critical issues have been identified. Hundreds of innovation initiatives, dozens of citizen visions and over one hundred policy briefs all showcase plural, competing rationalities. While this is fascinating and rich in terms of outcomes, its process is also often complex, sometimes frustrating and, most importantly, never leads to one ’right’ solution.
A more conventional approach would be to provide eloquent and focused answers, yet to questions which may never be posed. Experienced policy makers indeed desire tested, well-baked solutions which they can tune to their particular needs. This is the case because the world is complex, and one needs to accept that complex questions have multiple right answers.
In CASI, we have brought together many competing competences and knowledges, while still attempted to keep things sensible. Please feel free to check us out at www.casi2020.eu: there’s a framework for the assessment and management of sustainable innovation, mapped cases of many types of sustainable innovations, and experiences from involving stakeholders and citizens. They all provide both complementary and competing tools to make the future more sustainable.
Being ’right’ is simply too light for us.
Authored by Petteri Repo & Kaisa Matschoss
Photo credits: "World of soap" by Martin Fisch is licensed under https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/
Relevant themes:
Sustainable innovation, Raw materials, Resource efficiency, Environment, Climate action, Public participation
Relevant tags: expertise, engagement, plural rationalities, Sustainability
