EPTA Network - What is TA?

EPTA Network - What is TA?
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What is TA?
What is Technology Assessment?
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Parent Category:
About
Category:
What is TA?
Last Updated: 2015-06-19
Technology Assessment (TA) explores the relationship between science, technology and society. Is a concept which brings together researchers from different disciplines such as business economics, sociology or biology, to name a view. The common goal is to explore how current technological developments affect the world we live in.
More concretely, TA could for example make policy analysis about:
The energy situation.
Working conditions in the light of increasing ICT work.
Globalisation and labour market competences.
GMOs and the environment.
Privacy issues in e-government.
The Potentials of nanotechnology in health care.
The
projects database
on this website gives a more encompassing picture of the issues dealt with in Technology Assessment at the
EPTA member organisations
.
Technology Assessment has three dimensions (Note 1):
The cognitive dimension - creating overview on knowledge, relevant to policy-making.
The normative dimension - establishing dialogue in order to support opinion making.
The pragmatic dimension - establish processes that help decisions to be made.
And TA has three objects (Note 2):
The issue or technology
The social aspects
The policy aspects
TA has been defined in numerous ways. One definition, which fits Parliamentary Technology Assessment well (Note 2):
"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."
The EPTA organisations have a specific attribute by fully or partly having obligations towards parliaments. This means in practice that formal policy-making is part of the focus for the TA activities.
More about TA can be found
here
.
Notes
1: According to the EUROPTA project, established by EPTA members. "Participatory Technology Assessment" ISBN 0-85374-803-9
2: According to the TAMI project, on which EPTA members took part. "Technology Assessment - Methods and Impacts" ISBN: 3-540-21283-3
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