We’re proud to announce the ratification of our charter by our advisory board and a slate of new charter members, including a cohort of leading venture capital firms, limited partners and technology companies. Our belief is that to shape the kind of tech industry that benefits society broadly, we need the core of the industry to embrace responsible innovation. While we’re just getting started, we think this group represents many of the best companies and investors in today’s technology industry and they will be key partners in driving our work forward.
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.
Our charter outlines how we’ll approach putting responsible innovation into practice, and the values that will shape RILabs as we establish ourselves to serve the tech industry and beyond. The charter is based on our pillars of Responsible Innovation.
Our mission is to build the infrastructure of responsibility for high-growth technology companies. That means working with the companies tackling a wide variety of challenges, including some of society’s problems, like education, healthcare, defense, logistics, and beyond. Many of these businesses face critical questions that sit at the intersection of technology, business, ethics and law. They are often operating in uncharted spaces, and need new frameworks and approaches to guide them.
We believe that these approaches can best be developed through collaboration among industry, investors, executives, policymakers, academics, and other stakeholders. Consistent with that commitment, we are organizing steering groups around our pillars, which will be tasked with convening key stakeholders and developing standards.
Today, we welcomed a cohort of organizations as charter members and a full list of new members can be found here.
"Responsible innovation practices at every stage of a company are critical to ensuring the health of business and society broadly," said Nitin Nohria, Executive Chairman, Thrive Capital. "We are committed to helping the companies we support realize their full potential, and believe the next generation of great companies will tackle inequity, privacy, sustainability, and threats to democracy as first-order problems."
"As later stage investors with a focus on investing in system positive companies, we're excited to see RI Labs help startups embrace and embed responsible innovation from inception," said Lila Preston, Partner and Head of Growth Equity Strategy, Generation Investment Management.
"The goal of RI Labs is to empower the next generation of companies to learn from the past and ensure technology has a positive impact on society at large," said Brad Hoover, CEO, Grammarly. "RI Labs is doing important work bringing together investors, executives, policymakers, and academics, so we can put principles of Responsible Innovation into practice."
"At Evolv, we see that technology can play a meaningful role in addressing some of society's most challenging problems, and that it also creates complex societal questions to work through," said Peter George, CEO and President, Evolv Technology. "We're excited to be a part of RI Labs and help the industry develop frameworks for what responsible innovation looks like in practice."
Click here to get involved.
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