Responsible Innovation for Tackling Grand Challenges: Framing and Serendipity in the Emergence of Knowledge Commons

We contribute to literatures on platforms and responsible innovation by drawing on the case of Patient Innovation – a non-profit medical platform – focused on innovations by patients to find solutions for rare diseases that are typically neglected by the medical industry.Using a framing lens, we explore the role of serendipity in the creation and development of this platform. Initially launched as a “research platform” aimed at generating scientific publications, it turned into a “help society platform” aimed at creating wider social impact.We examine how this shift toward socially responsible innovation occurred. We develop a model illustrating how actors frame and reframe different situations as they interact and how this may lead to a tilt towards responsible innovation despite not initially targeting such a goal.