The first European PACITA conference ('Parliaments and Civil Society in Technology Assessment') focused on great transitions, such as in the fields of health care in an ageing society, climate change, energy supply in the aftermath of the Fukushima disaster, or changes regarding societal relationships through ICT.
Questions that we are facing in society and policy making often indicate upcoming great transitions connected to scientific and technological developments on a global level. Great transitions such as in the fields of health care in an ageing society, climate change, energy supply in the aftermath of the Fukushima disaster, or changes regarding societal relationships through ICT are topics of highest societal relevance. Technology Assessment as a concept of problem oriented research, policy consulting, and societal dialogue is aiming at supporting society and policy making in understanding and managing these problems.
The conference, under the title “Technology Assessment and Policy Areas of Great Transitions”, was organized by the EU-funded “Parliaments and Civil Society in Technology Assessment” (PACITA)
project and invited guests from all over the world to present and discuss their views on TA and bring together the wide spectrum of TA research. In 22 sessions over three days, 250 participants covered topics ranging from healthcare and medicine, energy supply, climate change and mobility or use of computer technology in all areas of society as well as questions, such as what kinds of knowledge, methods and dialogue are needed for decisionmaking.
PACITA (‘Parliaments and Civil Society in Technology Assessment’) is a four-year EU financed project under FP7 aimed at increasing the capacity and enhancing the institutional foundation for knowledge-based policy-making on issues involving science, technology and innovation, mainly based upon the diversity of practices in Parliamentary Technology Assessment (PTA). The key practices in focus are interactive in the sense that they engage science, civil society organizations, stakeholders, citizens, parliaments and/or governments directly in the activities in order to activate different kinds of knowledge, engage the actors, create common ownership to the results and enhance the communication between the societal actors.
PACITA has 15 European partners from national/regional parliamentary offices for science and technology, science academies, research institutions, universities and civil society organizations coordinated by a PTA institution, the Danish Board of Technology.
