As part of the Water Policy Innovation Hub, on 1st July 2022 a workshop was held on policy innovation and unintended consequences in water, agriculture, and the environment at L'Institut Agro Montpellier, France. The Hub is co-funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union and the workshop was generously co-hosted by ICIREWARD, the International Center for Interdisciplinary Research on Water Systems Dynamics. Their support is greatly appreciated in facilitating renewed research connections between Australia and Europe after COVID-19 interruptions.

Water innovation (social, technical, legal, etc) can produce both benefits and unintended, harmful consequences. Examples range from innovations for increasing irrigation efficiency and dam construction to AI-enabled systems to detect leaks from underground pipes. We can talk about policies and technologies in various categories and contexts, such as the ones that support (1) water extraction, water distribution, and water usage; or (2) domestic, agricultural, and industrial water consumption, or (3) recycled water and/or related waste products. The pivotal question that might arise from designing and implementing these policies and technologies is that: How can we ensure they are not harmful but beneficial to societies?

The literature in Responsible Innovation (RI) suggests that by focusing on and deploying dimensions such as anticipation, reflexivity, deliberation, responsiveness, participation we can address such issues in different stages of the innovation process. In the Montpellier workshop we drew on combined experience of participants from a variety of contexts and shared case studies from around the world to illustrate how the notion of ‘responsible innovation’ could be understood and applied in water resource management and policy making.

The full briefing paper is linked below.