Technology is one of the most powerful forces in our world.
Properly wielded it is a true super power for humanity. It can make lives better for real people, build brighter futures for our kids, and address some of our greatest challenges, like climate change and disease. From life sciences to energy, communications, manufacturing, and beyond, ambitious founders bring essential innovation to a world that needs it.
At the same time, our technology industry hasn’t done enough to guard against its downsides, exacerbating some of society’s biggest problems, from income inequality, to the marginalization of people, to misinformation.
Responsibility belongs in the DNA of high-growth technology companies. Building it in from day one fosters sustainable progress and continuing dynamism for all of us, from founders and funders to customers and communities.
Standards can ensure innovation goes farther, faster, for the benefit of everyone.
We’re joined by some of the best in our industry.
This group of charter members has come together to help build a movement for a better technology industry.
“We shape our tools and, thereafter, our tools shape us,” wrote John Culkin.
We are building Responsible Innovation Labs because that has never been truer than it is now. Our attention, our health, our work, the shape of our governments, the fate of our planet, all are shaped by and dependent on our technology.
Humanity has only a small number of tools to shape the world.
Technological innovation—in most cases driven by ambitious technology companies—is among the most important. It is, if we dare say it, a high calling — for founders, investors, and everyone building it.
The innovation economy changes our world.
It attracts vast amounts of capital, drives the lion's share of growth, and, perhaps more importantly, houses many of the brightest minds in our society. Many care about their impact on the world. We're building tools and standards to help them.
Many of the best founders and investors understand why this matters.
They understand that what they build, the incentives they create, whose problems they solve—and which ones they ignore—all matter, not just to them, but to the world. Responsible innovation isn’t just an economic imperative, it’s a moral one.
Incorporating better, more sustainable practices into every level of your work is not only the right thing to do, but also helps you align your company with the concerns of your customers. That’s why we’re excited to see the creation of RIL and more focus on the mindset and methods of building responsible companies.
- First Name Last Name, Title, Company
Incorporating better, more sustainable practices into every level of your work is not only the right thing to do, but also helps you align your company with the concerns of your customers. That’s why we’re excited to see the creation of RIL and more focus on the mindset and methods of building responsible companies.
- First Name Last Name, Title, Company
Responsible Innovation Labs’ mission is to build the infrastructure of responsibility for high-growth technology companies.
Our vision is an innovation industry where the best founders and funders treat societal responsibility as a core part of building great businesses from day one. Responsible company-building bolsters long-term value and leads to technologies that serve the needs of our world. That’s why we’re rolling up our sleeves and convening some of the best thinkers to design infrastructure and resources for founders and funders, with standards at the center. These standards will guide the leaders of companies being built and scaled for endurance, in private and public markets.
We're a non-profit coalition of leaders working to fulfill the purpose of Responsible Innovation.
We are believers in tech and in the power of the private market. We understand that the innovation economy must be transformed for the benefit of the world and that we need to help transform it from the inside out. Together, we will write new standards for ethically deploying technology and building enduring companies.
Advisory Board:
Toyin Ajayi
Co-Founder and President, Cityblock Health
Neil Blumenthal
Co-Founder and Co-CEO, Warby Parker
Jim Breyer
Founder and CEO, Breyer Capital
Melanie Perkins
Co-Founder and CEO, Canva
Rachel Romer
Co-Founder and CEO, Guild Education
Ken Chenault
Chairman and Managing Director, General Catalyst
Ken Frazier
Chairman, Health Assurance Initiatives, General Catalyst; Executive Chairman, Merck
Jon Iwata
Executive Fellow, Yale School of Management
Maurice Jones
CEO, OneTen
Rick Klausner
Chief Scientist and Founder, Altos Labs
Youngme Moon
Donald K. David Professor of Business, Harvard Business School; Board Member, Mastercard, Sweetgreen, Unilever, Warby Parker
Sam Palmisano
Chairman, Center for Global Enterprise; former Chairman and CEO, IBM
Lila Preston
Partner and Head of Growth Equity Strategy, Generation Investment Management
Josh Reeves
Co-Founder and CEO, Gusto
Glen Tullman
CEO, Transcarent
Elena Donio
Board Director, Twilio and Databricks; former Director and CEO, Axiom
Jon Zieger
Executive Director and Co-Founder, RILabs; Ex-General Counsel, Stripe
Hemant Taneja
Co-Founder, RILabs; Managing Partner, General Catalyst
Diede van Lamoen
Co-Founder, RILabs; Co-Founder, Commure
Team:
Jon Zieger
Co-Founder and Executive Director; former General Counsel, Stripe
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Diede van Lamoen
Co-Founder; Co-Founder, Commure
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Hemant Taneja
Co-Founder and Chairman; Managing Partner, General Catalyst
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Luisa Reyes
Product and Community
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Gabby Ollig
Product and Operations
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Shanen Boettcher
Ethics and Product
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Delia Pawelke
Strategic Advisor; Head of Product Risk, Stripe
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Jama Adams
Chief Operating Officer
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Institutional partners:
Infrastructure for Responsible Innovation.
The best companies growing and scaling today care about their impact on the world. But there are inconsistencies in how this intent gets put into practice. That's why we need infrastructure for Responsible Innovation, with real standards and transparency. To be effective, these standards must be at the core of investment decisions, business models, brand visions, and company cultures from the outset —and then reinforced by private sector leaders, boards, and policymakers.
We're building on the following core pillars:
Innovate Intentionally
Technology's world-changing power must be wielded with care. We have an obligation to consider the impacts our technologies will have on the world, and to build rigor into our operations and governance to minimize negative unintended consequences.
Operate with Accountability and Transparency
With innovation comes responsibility — to measure the impacts of our technologies on people and society. We must embrace the policies and processes that govern the technology we build, and be clear about the trade-offs between societal interests and growth and profits.
Advance Inclusive Prosperity
Technology reshapes how we work and who benefits from our economy. It is vital that we make a path – through entrepreneurship, education, equity and access – for everyone to benefitfrom a more prosperous future, and that no one is left behind by what we create.
Build Sustainably
Innovation can contribute to building a healthier planet. Responsible companies must commit to environmental sustainability from the outset. By design, our operations, products and footprints must be sustainable and in service of the wellbeing of the planet and its people.
Respect People
Human flourishing is the measure by which innovation should be judged. Every human being has value and a right to autonomy and dignity. We must build business models and products that safeguard these values, including a core respect for the time, attention, privacy, security and safety of users.
Champion Diversity
Enduring businesses cannot be built without exceptional people. Only by building organizations that are diverse and inclusive will companies be capable of seeing—and addressing—the broadest spectrum of human needs.
Promote Healthy Societies
Companies exist within the context of society and its institutions, not in a vacuum. We need to build companies and technologies that are consistent with the health of core societal institutions, including functioning governments, respectful discourse, a free press, the just application of law, and free and fair elections.
To be meaningful, these standards must be broadly credible, living and reflective of the best thought from both inside and outside of industry.
It will take all of us working together.
Innovation is driven by an ecosystem. Much of the Labs' work to develop standards will initially focus on engaging founders and investors, who have a special responsibility for the companies they build and fund. But great companies are shaped not only by visionary founders and investors, but also by executives, employees, customers, policymakers and more. We value partnerships with people who have done this work for years in non-profits, academia, industry and beyond. We will need all of them to help us develop standards and, as importantly, to hold companies accountable to them.
Technology executives, employees and an informed public agree: Founders and investors have special responsibility for the companies they build and fund.
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