Inge Maas opened the series of MA thesis presentations with her work, “(Re)framing Sustainability in National AI Strategies: Austria, France and Ireland.” Examining the national AI strategies of Austria, France, and Ireland, she shows how sustainability is strategically reframed to reconcile the environmental costs of AI with the EU’s Twin Transition agenda, primarily through narratives of efficiency, selective visibility, and promises of future technological solutions.

She was followed by Pablo Valenzuela Astudillo, who presented “Unveiling Technoscientific Promises: The Arrival of a Hyperscale Data Centre in Talavera de la Reina (Spain).” Through a case study of a proposed hyperscale data centre in Talavera de la Reina, he analyses how promissory regimes and logics of scalability mobilise local support for digital infrastructures, while activists and residents negotiate, contest, and rework the futures these projects seek to install.

Finally, Roxana Demeter presented “Towards Long-Term Nuclear Waste Governance: Future-Making at the Centre de Stockage de la Manche and the Bois Noirs Limouzat Mine.” Challenging the assumption that low-level nuclear residues constitute a solved governance problem, she examines how actors at two legacy nuclear sites in France engage in practices of future-making that shape responsibility, memory, valuation, and governance across extended temporal horizons.

It is wonderful to see such excellent research emerging from the INNORES project and to witness how these three theses advance its core concerns from distinct yet complementary perspectives.

From April 10 to April 22, we had the pleasure of welcoming Stephen Hilgartner as a visiting scholar to the INNORES project. His stay provided an invaluable opportunity for intensive exchanges with the project team on a wide range of themes central to our research. Over nearly two weeks of discussions, workshops, and informal conversations, we explored different facets of innovation residues, from questions of long-term responsibility and care to issues of knowledge production, governance, and future-making. Stephen’s insightful comments, critical engagement, and longstanding expertise in STS helped sharpen our thinking and opened up new perspectives for the project’s ongoing work. The visit was marked by a spirit of intellectual curiosity and collaboration, leaving us with many ideas to pursue in the months ahead. We are deeply grateful for this stimulating exchange and look forward to continuing the conversation.

Our team, Ulrike Felt, Carsten Horn, Noah Münster, Ange Pottin and Livia Regen, spent three great days together to advance our thinking in the INNORES project. It was in so many ways incredibly productive, grounded in genuine collegiality and curiosity. We tackled core, cross-cutting questions that bridged our different ideas and opened new paths forward. It was a real treat to share unhurried time for thinking together—proof that collective reflection powers is great.

We had wonderful 2 days of interdisciplinary discussions and could also bring parts of the INNORES proiect into conversation with the community of researchers working on environmental topics.

Organised by Ulrike Felt and Ange Pottin

Participants: Bernadette BENSAUDE-VINCENT, Roxana DEMETER, Martin DENOUN, Ulrike FELT, Tatiana KASPERSKI, Sergiu NOVAC, Sarah O’BRIEN, Ange POTTIN, Sonja SCHMID

It was a wonderful opportunity to present and discuss different aspects of the Innovation Residues project. A great community of scholars and a unique opportunity to learn about the way innovations matter in a very different context.

Another great MA thesis that was finished in the context of our INNORES project. Kaye wrote about the regulatory complexities of microplastics on the EU level. A great presentation and debate and a proud supervisor! Congratulations!

The INNORES team was present with three members – Noah Münster, Livia Regen and Ulrike Felt – at the conference with two presentations; it was a great event with a lot of interesting debates.

I had a wonderful time invited by Pierre Delvenne @ SPIRAL, University of Liège. It was a privilege to speak in the context of the exhibition “Picturing the invisible” curated by Mak Takahashi – “AU-DELÀ DU VISIBLE : L’art à percevoir une catastrophe nucléaire autrement“. On the next day I had a great morning discussing methodological and theoretical aspects of the INNORES proejct with the SPIRAL group – “THE LINGERING TRACES OF INNOVATION: Exploring residual journeys through society“. And I had lot of thinking time with Céline Parotte and Pierre.