Research prioritization and societal accountability in corporatised healthcare services – What can Responsible Innovation offer?

In many parts of the world, an increasing number of clinical healthcare services are delivered through corporations. These corporations are also increasingly required to shape and undertake vital medical research. In this paper we outline the challenges of setting research priorities in corporatised clinics and ensuring that researchers are accountable to society and alert to the broader societal impacts of their work. We propose that the approach to research governance known as “Responsible Innovation” might provide a useful framework for selecting and shaping corporate research priorities so that they are grounded in population health priorities and wider social benefit. Responsible innovation also provides guidance for engaging patients, consumers, regulators and payers in constructive collaboration with researchers; encouraging ethical reflection by both corporations and individual scientists; and promoting responsiveness to contingencies in the processes, outcomes, and reception of research.