Bridges Between Science, Society and Policy : Technology Assessment - Methods and Impacts

The Europaische Akademie zur Erforschung von Folgen wissenschaftlich-techni­ scher Entwicklungen Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler GmbH (european academy) is con­ cerned with the scientific study of the consequences of scientific and technological advance for the individual and social life and for the natural environment. The main focus is to examine foreseeable mid-and long-term processes that are especially influenced by natural-and engineering sciences and the medical disciplines. The academy fulfills this task by organizing interdisciplinary expert discussions. Another important issue of the work of the Europaische Akademie concerns the methodology of Technology Assessment as a general issue. This is the main reason that the european academy organized during the past two years a project funded by the European Commission on Technology Assessment. Methods and Impact (TAMI). Together with partners from all over Europe a common understanding of what Tech­ nology Assessment (TA) is supposed to do was developed. Most importantly it was acknowledged that the core of any TA activity has to be a sound scientific under­ standing of the relevant phenomena. Communication then is of cordial importance to reach the relevant decision makers as well as the general public. It is true that this phase of the TA process has been treated with too little attention for many years. The communication processes between scientific advisers and policy makers have hence to be further scrutinized.

This book summarises the results of the project TAMI (Technology Assessment in Europe; between Method and Impact); a two-year project that brought together the main institutes of technology assessment in Europe, both parliamentary and non-parliamentary ones. TAMI created a structured dialogue between technology assessment experts and policymakers on current methodologies and their impact in policymaking.

The TAMI team explored and assessed the whole spectrum of methodologies from the "classical" to the "interactive/participatory" and "communicative", identified good practices in project implementation and set the stage for impact evaluation based on objective criteria. Moreover the team investigated wider influencing factors in technology assessment, ranging from "institutional settings" to "lobbying activities", "industry technology assessment" and "cultural aspects" that are also presented in detail. Finally the book offers a series of policy recommendations based on the findings of the project.

Science, Society and Policy, are three areas that technology assessment functions within and works for; this book is an attempt to improve the interaction amongst them for a more socially and economically sustainable Science and Technology policy in Europe.