Critiquing the direction for innovation: the interplay of why, how, and what

This editorial introduces a special issue interrogating the direction of innovation – not just how fast or effectively it proceeds, but where, why, and for whom it moves. Drawing on political philosophy and critical innovation studies, contributors engage with questions of justice, legitimacy, and contestation across three levels: the directing (acceleration), the direction (choice of goals), and the directionality (plurality of pathways) of innovation. The special issue provides an overview of the central discussions around the concept of directionality and extends responsible innovation discourse by incorporating concepts such as exnovation and resistance in relation to political and normative approaches to justice, as well as alternative conceptions of the relationship between humans and the world such as Buen Vivir. Case studies on climate innovation, digital transitions, merger policy, plastic exnovation and platform cooperativism complement theoretical reflections on the ethics of direction. Through interdisciplinary dialogue, the special issue examines how market, state and civil society actors co-shape innovation processes – such as business innovation, mission-oriented innovation or grassroots innovation; how this is understood in Schumpeterian, Hayekian to Keynesian and new critical theories of innovation; and why this matters for democracy, sustainability and equality once the crucial normative property of the direction of innovation is acknowledged. Analyzing the interplay of the why, how and what of innovation, the contributions provide the state of the art for critique of the direction of innovation beyond the current techno-economic paradigm.