TA refers to the timely identification, assessment and discussion of the impacts (e.g. societal, environmental, ethical, legal) of science, technology and innovation, as a service to policy making and decision making more generally.
Technology Assessment assists anticipatory governance of technology design and uptake through three interlinked functions (Grunwald 2019):
- Advising policy-making: Technology Assessment is designed primarily as a decision-support tool for parliamentary bodies. It is used to support parliamentary debates (and in some cases also decision-making by national and regional governments) through impartial and high quality insights, reports and advice on possible social, economic and environmental impacts of forthcoming innovations.
- Facilitating public debate: participatory elements of Technology Assessment engage concerned citizens as active contributors to policy-making and promote deliberative democracy and wider societal debates on emerging technologies. Engagement of key concerned stakeholders improves quality and transparency of technology governance.
- Supporting research and innovation:Technology Assessment encourages consideration of wider societal perspectives in the whole process of innovation - from the inception and design to development and market placement. Interactive ex-ante Technology Assessment enriches the innovation process through reflexivity over possible consequences and encourages innovators to take due account of a broader spectrum of values that underpin societal value and even economic worth of relevant innovations.
For more information see this Wikipedia article.
TA Resources
Related network:
A network of parliamentary TA across Europe
Information on:
TA methods, projects and publications
TA networks, projects and publications in German
TA Project Databases:
EPTA: https://eptanetwork.org/database/projects
openTA:https://openta.net/publikationen
Projects related to globalTA:
Technology Assessment Handbook:
Constructing a Global Technology Assessment. Insights from Australia, China, Europe, Germany, India and Russia (2019), edited by Hahn, J., Ladikas,M., KIT Scientific Publishing
Science and Technology Governance and Ethics. A Global Perspective from Europe, India and China (2015), edited by Ladikas, M., Chaturvedi, S., Zhao, Y., Stemerding, D. Springer Open
PACITA book: Policy-Oriented Technology Assessment Across Eurpea - Expandig Capacities (2015), edited by Klüver, L., Nielsen, R.O., Jorgensen, M.L., Palgrave
TA basics: Technology Assessment in Practice and Theory (2019) by Grunwald, A., Routledge
International TA conferences: