Theory & Principles underpinning successful Technology Assessments

Michael Decker

Institute for Technology Assessment and Systems Analysis

Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe

(Research Centre Karlsruhe)

decker@itas.fzk.de

(ITAS)

Successful Technology Assessment (TA)

Scientific Excellence for Policy Advice

Theory of TA?

Structure

ITASInstitute for Technology Assessment and Systems Analysis

Research Areas:

• Environment and resource management

• Innovation processes and technology impact

• Knowledge society and knowledge policy

Addressees:

• European Parlament

• Deutscher Bundestag

• Federal Ministry of Education and Research

• European Commission

• Umweltbundesamt (Federal Environment Agency)

• Ministry for nutrition and agriculture in rural areas (regional)

European Technology Assessment Group (ETAG)

provides scientific services for the European Parliament on social, environmental and economic aspects of new technological and scientific developments

STOA-Panel (Scientific Technological Options Assessment;

Chairman Philippe BUSQUIN)

Members of ETAG:

Institute of Technology Assessment and Systems Analysis (coordinator)

Danish Board of Technology

Flemish Institute for Science and Technology Assessment

Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology of the British Parliament,

Rathenau Institute

Technology assessment (TA) is a scientific, interactive and

communicative process which aims to contribute to the formation

of public and political opinion on societal aspects of science and

technology.

TAMI-Project

(Technology Assessment in Europe:

Between Method and Impact)

Definition of TA

“Impact of TA is defined as any change with regard to the state of

knowledge, opinions held or actions taken by relevant actors in

the process of societal debate on technological issues”

TAMI-Project

(Technology Assessment in Europe:

Between Method and Impact)

Definition of Impact

IMPACT I SSUE

RAISING KNOWLEDGE

FORMING ATTITUDES / OPINIONS

INITIALISING ACTIONS

TECHNOLOGICAL / SCIENTIFIC ASPECTS

SCIENTIFIC ASSESSMENT

a) Technical options assessed and made visible

b) Comprehensive overview on consequences given

AGENDA SETTING

f) Setting the agenda in the political debate

g) Stimulating public debate

h) Introducing visions or scenarios

REFRAMING OF DEBATE

o) New action plan or initiative to further scrutinise the problem decided

p) New orientation in policies established

SOCIETAL ASPECTS

SOCIAL MAPPING

c) Structure of conflicts made transparent

MEDIATION

i) Self-reflecting among actors

j) Blockade running

k) Bridge building

NEW DECISION MAKING PROCESSES

q) New ways of governance introduced

r) Initiative to intensify public debate taken

POLICY ASPECTS POLICY ANALYSIS

d) Policy objectives explored

e) Existing policies assessed

RE-STRUCTURING THE POLICY DEBATE

l) Comprehensiveness in policies increased

m) Policies evaluated through debate

n) Democratic legitimisation perceived

DECISION TAKEN

s) Policy alternatives filtered

t) Innovations implemented

u) New legislation is passed

Scientific Challenges

“In response to the challenges of policy issues of risk and the environment, a new type of science – ‘post normal’ – is emerging”

“Decision making situations of high uncertainties and high decision stakes”

“In the area of post-normal science the problems of quality assurance of scientific information are particular acute and their resolution requires new conceptions of scientific methodology”

“all the stakeholders in an issue form an ‘extended peer review”

(Funtowicz, Ravetz “Post-normal Science”)

Scientific Challenges

Problem solving in application contexts…

… needs to involve practitioners from a number of communities

… needs to overcome disciplinary barriers

… needs extra-ordinary quality control

Needs to be transdisciplinary !

(Gibbons et al.; Mode 2 Knowledge Production)

Scientific Challenges

Extension of inter-disciplinary research:

“The co-ordination of all disciplines and interdisciplines in the education/innovation system on the basis of a generalized axiomatics

(introduced from the purposive level) and an emerging epistemological ("synepistemic") pattern.“

(Jantsch)

“In certain problem solving contexts transdisciplinary research makes the original idea of the “unification of science”, understood as the unification of scientific rationality […] concrete.”(Mittelstraß; Translation MD)

Scientific Challenges

Extension of the science system:

„We characterize ‚transdisciplinary science’ as (1) cognitive and social co-operation across disciplinary boundaries, (2) an intention towards the direct application of scientific knowledge in both political decision making and societal problem-solving, and (3) the participation of non-scientific stakeholders within research processes. (Burger, Kamber)

“The core idea of transdiscipinarity is different academic disciplines working jointly with practitioners to solve a real-world problem. It can

be applied in a great variety of fields.” (Klein et al.)

Scientific Challenges

Quality Control:

Scientific Quality Criteria(Reliability of the scientific inputs and of the interdisciplinary results, etc.)

Interactive Quality Criteria(Social fairness, process fairness, transparency of the interactive processes, argumentative quality)

Technology assessment (TA) is a scientific, interactive and communicative process which aims to contribute to the formation of public and political opinion on societal aspects of science and technology.

Policy Advice Challenges

Quality Control:

Communicative Quality Criteria

Flexibility related to the ongoing debate,

keep track with social, political and scientific reality,

political embedding,

diffusion of results,

striving for synergies

Theory of TA ?

There is no “Theory of TA”

Strict context reference makes TA untheorize-able ?

You can find

- guidelines for a successful TA-project management

- theoretical statements in descriptions of TA-concepts

- a long tradition of successful TA-projects (best practice)

Theory of TA ?

Example “Consequences”

1. Intended versus unintended

2. Desirable versus undesirable

3. Expected versus unexpected

4. Short-term versus long-term

5. “Main-” or “most relevant” versus “side-” or “less relevant”

6. …

Common aspect in TA: 5. after 1.

Conclusion

Successful TA…

… needs to be scientific excellent

… needs to be transdisciplinary

… needs to be “communicative”

… needs to quality controlled

There is no Theory of TA

Conclusion

Successful TA…

… needs to be scientific excellent

… needs to be transdisciplinary

… needs to be “communicative”

… needs to quality controlled

There is no Theory of TA (up to now)

Michael Decker

Institute for Technology Assessment and System Analysis (ITAS)

Phone: +49/7247 823 007

Fax: +49/7247 826 045

email: Michael.Decker@itas.fzk.de

Contact

Thank you for your attention !