Developing and Assessing New Technology: Popper, Monsanto and GMOs

The UK launch of the Science Enterprise Challenge in 1999 has stimulated interest in the evolutions of science-based firms and this paper argues that Popper’s seminal diverse contributions to philosophy are directly relevant to them. It begins by commenting on the applications of both Kuhn’s and Popper’s concepts to technological (as against) scientific evolutions. It then suggests how Popper’s approaches are applicable to the development and assessment of new technology within the framework of Freeman’s stakeholders approach. Monsanto’s development of GMOs is used as an illustrative case.