Contrasting directionalities in responsible innovation, lessons from the salmon farming industry in Chile and Norway

• There are contrasting perceptions about the directionality of innovation with gene technology in the salmon faming industry in Chile and Norway. • There is a need for developing a better understanding about why directionality is performed differently in a global multifaceted reality. • The directionality of innovation systems can be studied (1) by determining how key concepts of risk perception are related to each other and (2) by distinguishing actors generating valuations from those generating knowledge. • The reason for which there are contrasting directionalities in the studied innovation systems is because of how inclusion is performed within them and the consequent way in which key concepts about risk perception of gene technology are related to each other. • Policy making in the innovation system in Norway should aim to minimize the politization of risk perceptions of gene technology, while the innovation system in Chile should aim to include more non-expert voices as to make it more representative.