Constructive technology assessment
Constructive technology assessment
We organized a highly interactive workshop following the premises of Constructive technology assessment (CTA) 69, where insights into technology dynamics are explored with actors
The Approach of Constructive technology assessment, Pinter Publishers, London, 1995. Douglas K. R. Robinson obtained his undergraduate and master's degree in Physics and Space S&t at the University of Leicester (UK) and Universität Siegen (Germany.
Among other methods and practices in the field are constructive technology assessment discursive technology assessment, consensus conferences, brainstorming, expert workshops, Delphi questionnaires and expert Fig. 1. Popper's diamond 9. 1165 R. Koivisto et al./
SWOT analysis, benchmarking, expert panels (new knowledge creation) Technology roadmaps, backcasting, narrative scenarios (visions of the future) Constructive technology assessment,
This approach is developed as a support tool for Constructive technology assessment (Constructive TA), see Box 1, and incorporates what we call endogenous futures into scenarios
in order to get close to the real issues being explored through the CTA. Building of the notions and gaps given above,
and creating scenarios for a CTA exercise. 3. Evolving selection environments, and their internalisation 3. 1. A project is initiated In Autumn 2007 (as still the case 2 years on) there was an increasing emphasis on societal impact and embedment of nanotechnology applications.
Box 1 The Constructive technology assessment goal of reflexivity rather than prediction. For early stage and highly uncertain fields of technology development, prediction is a tough task.
Constructive technology assessment (Constructive TA) 6 10 as a reflexive strategy articulation support system taking as its starting point ongoing socio-technical dynamics is particularly suitable for such a purpose.
Presented at the Annual Meeting of the Society for Social Study of Science (4s) in Montreal, Quebec, 2007.3 A. Rip, H. te Kulve, Constructive technology assessment and sociotechnical scenarios, in:
Concepts, Spaces and Tools, Edward Elgar, Cheltenham, 2002.8 J. Schot, A. Rip, The past and future of constructive technology assessment, Technol.
18 july September 2006) 411 428 Numbers 3 4,-4. 10 R. van Merkerk, R. E. H. M. Smits, Tailoring CTA
34 R. van Merkerk, R. E. H. M. Smits, Tailoring CTA for emerging technologies, Technol. Forecast.
Rethinking constructive technology assessment as democratic, reflective discourse. Technological forecasting and Social Change 73, no. 1: 13 26.
Policy 36 (6)( 2007) 813 831.49 A. Rip, H. te Kulve, Constructive technology assessment and Socio-Technical Scenarios, 2008.50 A. Rip, Folk theories of nanotechnologists, Science
''or face it directly (as implied by the slogan of‘‘anticipatory democracy''and the characteristics of constructive technology assessment).
By placing the constructive technology assessment (CTA) approach in a historical perspective of technology assessment we will show the relevance of our method for CTA studies.
D 2005 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. Keywords: Emerging technology; Irreversibility; Technology assessment; Expectations; Agenda building 0040-1625/$-see front matter D 2005 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. doi:
and by discussing the relevance of our method for constructive technology assessment, or CTA. 2 2 Constructive technology assessment studies of nanotechnology are at the moment being performed in The netherlands.
These studies are part of a Dutch research and development programme that coordinates the efforts of leading research institutes and companies in The netherlands in the area of nanotechnology.
In the late 1980s the notion of constructive technology assessment (CTA) became apparent in Europe. Many different types of CTA exist depending on the audience, phase of technological development, etc.
Nevertheless, the leading idea is to anticipate on societal aspects in an early stage of technological development to get better societal embedded technology 34.
R. O. van Merkerk, H. van Lente/Technological forecasting & Social Change 72 (2005) 1094 1111 1108 development of dusefult applications of technology, CTA
and especially in the light of constructive technology assessment. In general, CTA studies aim at assessing technological development in an active way
in order to maximise the societal embedding of the new technology. Our basic claim is that in order to appreciate and to influence developments in new emerging technologies,
thus, will be useful as input for CTA studies in which the perspectives and actions of multiple heterogeneous actors are involved.
Understanding the dynamics from the different perspectives gives insight in the different points of view of the actors involved in the CTA study. 16 Finally,
of a CTA study (at least in some approaches) is the formulation of bsocio-technical scenariosq 35,
the results and insights that are gained by applying CTA tools in practice can be fed back into theories of technology dynamics.
lesson for the CTA practitioner, in: A. Rip, T. J. Misa, J. Schot (Eds. Managing Technology in Society, Pinter, London, 1995, pp. 307 330.7 A. Rip, R. Kemp, Technological change, in:
The Approach of Constructive technology assessment, Pinter Publishers, London, 1995.33 R. Smits, A. Leyten, Technology assessment, Waakhond of speurhond?
34 J. W. Schot, A. Rip, The past and future of constructive technology assessment, Technology Forecasting and Social Change 54 (1997) 251 268.
The netherlands) working on Constructive technology assessment of emerging technologies and nanotechnology in particular. His research focuses on characterising emerging technologies and anticipating on prospective technological developments.
For example, constructive technology assessment (CTA) does not intend to give a final decision about the prospects of a technical development,
Integrating CTA with vision assessment. Technological forecasting and Social Change 75, no. 3: 334 55. Rosenberg, N. 1982.
The past and future of constructive technology assessment. Technological forecasting and Social Change 54, nos. 2 3: 251 68.
A number of concepts and approaches were proposed, such as Constructive technology assessment (CTA), Participatory Design and Participatory Innovation 13,14.
CTA, for example, with its aim of broadening design and development processes and early interaction between the relevant technology and societal actors, can be considered an initial attempt at Innovation Foresight.
CTA drew strongly on the inclusivity of broader social constituencies and interaction with current and anticipated future users in Research
Proceedings Participatory Design Conference, 2008, pp. 186 189.14 J. Schot, A. Rip, The past and future of constructive technology assessment, Technological forecasting and Social Change 54 (1997) 268
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