In this paper, we challenge the presupposed concept of innovation in the responsible innovation literature. The guiding assumption here is that “right from the start, research, development and design [can] incorporate relevant ethical and societal aspects” so that “technological and scientific advances become properly embedded in society” [NOW]. If we incorporate ethical and societal aspects in the innovation process right from the start, it is believed that the innovation process can be steered in desired directions and that ethical and societal conflicts can be solved. However, with regard to the input, throughput and output of innovation processes, the possibility of ‘responsible’ innovation is questionable. In this paper, we ask which concepts and theories of ‘responsibility’ and ‘innovation’ are presupposed in the Responsible Innovation literature. By challenging these presupposed concepts and theories, we provide a critique of the concept of responsible innovation and propose an agenda for future research.