Starting from hopelessness – grand challenges, sustainable development goals, and responsible research and innovation under urgency and uncertainty

International governance has responded to global challenges like climate change, poverty or health through the UN Sustainable Development Goals, or Grand Challenges for research. This paper provocatively proposes that, besides goal-setting, responding to urgent societal challenges can start from hopelessness. Starting from hopelessness, attends to, and accepts a given situation, and harvests its potentials. Building on Jullien's work on Taoist approaches to effective action and Bovens's definition of hope, we define starting from hopelessness as (a) desiring an outcome, (b) believing it is possible, though uncertain, and, instead of imagining things otherwise, (c) accepting the grim situation one is in, harvesting what potential it offers without pre-set plans. The principles of acceptance, humility and togetherness help guide hopeless action. We illustrate divergent crisis responses, starting from goals or from hopelessness, through cases in Orissa and Wayanad, India. We further explore what 'hopeless planning' and 'hopeless research and innovation' may involve.