Related Papers
Policy-Oriented Technology Assessment Across Europe: Expanding Capacities
Doing Cross-European Technology Assessment
2016 •
Danielle Bütschi
Policy-Oriented Technology Assessment Across Europe: Expanding Capacities
Introduction: On the Concept of Cross-European Technology Assessment
2016 •
Rasmus Øjvind Nielsen
Palgrave Communications
Legislative science advice in Europe: the case for international comparative research
2017 •
Chris Tyler
This article provides an introduction to science advisory structures in elected legislatures; an arena of public decision-making which, although critical to the healthy functioning of democratic societies, has been largely neglected in recent discussions of science advice. The article begins by contrasting the functions and operating environments of legislatures with those of executive branches of governments, examining how these differences shape the requirements of their respective science advisory structures. A study of three national legislative science advice units within Europe is then presented, revealing a range of advisory structures and practices. These variations in approach suggest different underpinning conceptions about both why science advice is being provided, and how science advice can most effectively influence a legislature’s activities. Given these differences, and our currently limited comparative understanding of the influence of scientific knowledge across dif...
Technology assessment in Non-PTA countries
2015 •
Nuno Boavida
Technology Assessment in Non-PTA Countries: An Overview of Recent Developments in Europe
Nuno Boavida, António B. Moniz
Technology Assessment in Japan and Europe
2016 •
Nuno Boavida
This work aims to describe the latest developments in European countries or regions that lack a structure to develop Parliamentary Technology Assessment activities (named non-PTA). They are countries or regions where parliamentary-oriented technology assessment activities have not yet resulted in a formal structure, but where these activities can be detected to some extent. We will concentrate on activities in Portugal, Wallonia, and other Central and Eastern countries such as the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Lithuania and Bulgaria. Catalonia is mentioned as a specific case where a formal PTA structure exists but the way it is organized and financed is similar to the national and regional experiences at the non-PTA countries. We can conclude that TA institutionalization in non-PTA countries appears to be dependent on the level of public production of knowledge. In fact, the presence or absence of Science & Technology (ST in their absence, the promotion of innovation tries to kee...
TATuP - Zeitschrift für Technikfolgenabschätzung in Theorie und Praxis
No Countries for Old Technology Assessment?
2015 •
António B. Moniz
A Side-by-Side Review of Flemish and Walloon Technology Assessment
2015 •
Michiel Oudheusden
This article illuminates the potential role of technology assessment (TA) in knowl- edge-driven science, technology and inno- vation (STI) regimes by providing a compar- ative review of Flemish and Walloon TA. It draws critical attention to the ways in which TA actors and institutes in Flanders and Wal- lonia position themselves, or are positioned, in relation to dominant innovation policies and large-scale political transformations, notably the convergence of STI around the knowledge-based economy (KBE) and the regionalization of STI policy in Belgium. The article’s findings shed light on the Flemish government’s recent decision to close its parliamentary TA institute and the institution- al expansion of TA in Wallonia and elsewhere in Europe. It argues that TA has politics, as TA in Flanders and Wallonia aligns with the advent of strategic science and is also affil- iated to specific political parties. As these considerations run counter to the dominant representation of TA as a n...
TATuP - Zeitschrift für Technikfolgenabschätzung in Theorie und Praxis
De- and Re-Institutionalizing Technology Assessment in Contemporary Knowledge-Based Economies
Michiel Oudheusden
No Countries for Old Technology Assessment? Sketching the Efforts and Opportunities to Establish Parliamentary TA in Spain and Portugal
Knud Böhle, António B. Moniz
If the question is whether there is a parliamentary technology assessment (PTA) unit in Portugal or Spain, the clear answer is that there is still no such unit at the central state level at the present time, neither in Portugal nor in Spain. The question then has to be modified addressing previous and current efforts to establish PTA and the current framework conditions and opportunities. Practices of PTA are framed here as a democratic innovation in the context of changes in representative democracies. Against this backdrop, the efforts and opportunities to establish PTA in Spain and Portugal are studied. By sketching these developments and outlining the opportunities in these countries, our aim is to contribute to the debate about the likelihood of a new wave of PTA in Europe.
