PACITA

PACITA stands for Parliaments and Civil Society in Technology Assessment. It is a European project in which the established Technology Assessment (TA) institutes in various countries are working alongside newcomers to the field. A desire to institutionalize some form of parliamentary TA has been expressed by many countries, including Bulgaria, Lithuania, Ireland, Czech Republic, Portugal and Hungary. The aim of PACITA is to ensure effective knowledge sharing, to clarify the differences between countries, and to reflect on current TA practices with a view to identifying opportunities for improvement. The project is of four years’ duration.

The Rathenau Institute has taken on a number of important tasks within PACITA. First, we are responsible for coordinating the ‘Documenting TA’ programme component. The established institutes and the newcomers will make a joint inventory of current TA practice in Europe. Some institutes have close ties with politics and parliament, while others are more closely aligned with the research field or the media. The research approach also varies greatly between countries, from the academic to a more journalistic, populist style, and from a focus on desk research to the use of large-scale consultation panels in which members of the public are invited to discuss new technology.

The Rathenau Institute is also responsible for PACITA’s external communications. Eight newsletters will be published to ensure that this extensive project enjoys the attention it deserves among the various important stakeholders, including the European Parliament.
At a later stage, the Rathenau Institute will take on yet another important task, that of organizing a demonstration project in the form of a public forum on sustainable consumption.

More information: www.pacitaproject.eu