ABSTRACT
Research on scientific technologies and innovations remains critical in providing solutions to societal challenges. Sustainable development policy decisions must be informed by sound scientific research that adheres to ethical values and practice. The quality of research, innovations and consequently the technologies arising therein should be within acceptable integrity standards. This implies that ethical lapses in research and innovation development can harm those involved as research participants, researchers, the public and the environment. It also compromises research and innovations outcomes. Besides this, deliberate, dangerous and negligent deviations can damage institutional image. It is therefore vital for researchers to conduct research with integrity and sustain a research environment that fosters veracity. Furthermore, for scientific research, innovations and scholarships to endure, these efforts must be founded on objectivity, clarity, reproducibility and utility. This article emphasises on ethics as an integral part of research on scientific technologies and innovations. It reflects on what ethical research and innovation entails and the integrity expected from researchers. It also discusses importance of complying with ethical requirements with emphasis on informed consent, where human participants are involved. Ethical review of research and innovation protocols by an accredited committee is one way of mitigating the risk of research misconduct. Furthermore, in the case of innovations, one of the key integrity issue is the intellectual property rights. In this paper, we discuss ethical issues in the research and innovation lifecycle. There is no doubt that the quest for new knowledge and innovations is inevitable as society continues to face new challenges, which require scientific, technological and innovative solutions. Nonetheless, if advances in science, technology and innovations are to create meaningful contribution to communities, then ethical considerations are unavoidable.
