INNOVATION IN THE SERVICE OF SOCIETY

While modern science and technology have produced astounding advances, their contributions to social welfare often fall short of expectations. This Article provides a holistic framework for promoting "socially responsive" innovation that increases the social benefits, decreases the social harms, and improves the distributional effects of massive investments in science and technology. Traditionally, policymakers have relied significantly on centralized governance regimes such as mission-based science funding and technological regulation to guide the development and use of new innovations. While valuable, centralized approaches feature several shortcomings, and this Article proposes a distributed model of innovation governance to supplement them. In so doing, it draws on the CHIPS and Science Act of 2022, which bolstered the National Science Foundation's longstanding practice of considering the broader social impacts of proposed research projects when awarding research grants. Building on these reforms, this Article proposes a model of distributed innovation governance that extends beyond central policymakers to confer greater authority to promote socially responsive innovation on a wide range of public and private stakeholders, peer reviewers, scientists, and engineers. This Article argues for orienting various innovation gatekeepers-including federal funding agencies, scientific journals and conferences, and the Patent and Trademark Office-toward considering the broader social impacts (not just technical merit) of innovative projects when awarding key resources. By tying research funds, publication and presentation opportunities, and patents to assessments of social impact, this proposal creates a powerful incentive for scientists and inventors to consider and improve the contributions of their work to social welfare. This Article shows how government action can shift norms in the innovative community-including among private actors-to embrace socially responsive science and technology. This distributed governance model offers several benefits, including preserving scientific autonomy, guarding against the overpoliticization of innovation policy, and exploiting significant amounts of private information distributed among scientists and engineers.