Technology Assessment as Constructive Design and Governance

Technology Assessment (TA) aims to support the designing and shaping of technology in society. TA is supposed to “to reduce the human costs of trial and error learning in society's handling of new technologies, and to do so by anticipating potential impacts and feeding these insights back into decision making, and into actors' strategies” (Schot & Rip 1997, 251). TA practices are intended to create, communicate and apply knowledge about and reflection on the potential and actual interaction of (new) technology and societal actors and forces. The TAMI project, a joint effort of European TA agents to summarize the state of the art of TA, offered the following overarching definition: “Technology assessment 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 2003, 4)