ABSTRACT This paper offers a critical reflection on the concept of responsible innovation as defined during the last decades. We argue that the emphasis on innovation as a process risks neglecting the very goals of innovation, namely societal desirability and acceptability. Thus, we suggest reconsidering the role of imagination, the “Queen of the world” as Blaise Pascal put it, to propose an alternative way to responsible innovation and to redefine the priorities in order to meet the present challenges. Of course, the significance of imagination has always been recognized by organization and management scholarship, but lessons from philosophy help to envisage its implications for a new way of living. Conceiving of innovation not as a process but as a way of life is a thesis which, to a large extent, runs counter to those currently in force. As such, it offers important opportunities for discussion and debate.
Pavie et al. (2026) studied this question.