Social innovation
Emerging technologies in general, Institutional review board, Innovation process

ELSI Co-creation research utilizing knowledge fromthe humanities and social sciences
Research Center on Ethical, Legal and Social Issues
Director Atsuo Kishimoto
https://researchmap.jp/kishimoto-atsuo?lang=en

Abstract
In order to research, develop, and introduce emerging scienceand technology such as AI, it is necessary to address a series ofissues called “ethical, legal, and social issues (ELSI)” in addition
to the issues of the technology itself. In other words, innovation
requires not only science and technology in the narrow sense, butalso “socio-cultural technology” such as tools, know-how, and procedures to deal with ELSI. Since its establishment in April 2020, theResearch Center on Ethical, Legal and Social Issues (ELSI Center)has collaborated with various organizations both within and outside
the Osaka university, and various ELSI co-creation studies havebeen born out of these collaborations.

on Ethical, Legal and Social Issues (ELSI Center) has been consulted by various businesses since its establishment in April 2020.
In the joint research projects, we have co-created Code of Conducts and privacy policies for data use, conducted Privacy ImpactAssessments (PIAs) for projects, developed ELSI training course,
upgraded research ethics review process, developed AI ethicalprinciples and checklists, and conducted public workshops andtechnology assessments for specific technologies. Some of theseresults are available on the ELSI Center website.

▍ Background & Results
When implementing emerging science and technology in society, there are many cases in which simply complying with current
laws and regulations is not acceptable to society, and conversely,
there are many cases in which current laws and regulations are
not sufficient to deal with the technology. These are inevitable consequences of the fact that the speed of technological innovation
exceeds the speed of amendments to laws and regulations. Efforts to utilize knowledge from the humanities and social sciencesin technological innovations are addressed as “convergence ofknowledge” in the Sixth Science, Technology, and Innovation BasicPlan. There has not been much industry-academia co-creation in
the field of humanities and social sciences, and the potential needis extremely large. The ELSI center is accumulating knowledge andexperiences of ELSI co-creation activities and aims to formalize
and visualize the know-how obtained.

Social innovation▍ Significance of the research and Future perspective
ELSI is an acronym for Ethical, Legal and Social Issues, andwas originally the name of a research program initiated in 1990
when the project to decode the human genome was launchedin the United States, with the aim of anticipating and respondingin advance to its potential social impact. Although ELSI research
had been conducted also in Japan in the field of life and medical
sciences, in recent years, it becomes necessary to consider ELSI
on every emerging science and technology from R&D to social
implementation. While the speed of technological development
is increasing, there are more and more cases in which laws andregulations are not revised in time, and public opinion toward newtechnologies is unstable. When dividing ELSI issues into E (Ethics),L (Law), and S (Society), the role of E (Ethics) is relatively increasing, and this is reflected in the fact that more and more businesses
are establishing ethical principles for the use of AI. In addition, anincreasing number of business organizations are attempting to establish research ethics review processes. However, in many cases,
corporate organizations do not have personnel or departments incharge of E (ethics). Against this background, the Research CenterP a t e n t
Kishimoto, Atsuo. Visualization and bridging the gap between science and policy: Contribution of knowledge on risk research, The Journal of Science
Policy and Research Management 36(2), pp.116-127. (2021)(in Japanese)
Kishimoto, Atsuo. How to identify and manage emerging risks, Trends in the Sciences 25(12), pp.26-29. (2020)(in Japanese)
Kishimoto, Atsuo. Redefining safety in the era of risk trade-off and sustainability 16(3-4), pp. 369-377. (2013)https://elsi.osaka-u.ac.jp/URL
https://researchmap.jp/kishimoto-atsuo
K e y w o r d technology assessment, ethical, legal and social issues (ELSI), risk governance, privacy impact assessment
Tr e a t i s e