Daniela Fuchs

Technology assessment as a myth buster: deconstructing myths around emerging technologies

ABSTRACTResponsible Research and Innovation requires the debating of emerging technologies ‘upstream’. In discussions on radically novel technologies, comparisons with older technologies are often drawn. This leads to a transfer of assigned properties in the creation of rhetoric so that the new technology appears as a derivative of the older. Sometimes, several comparator technologies are at hand which may give the new technology a different image. Depending on the choices taken in rhetoric creation, a group of actors may acquire advantages over other groups, thereby establishing power relations and sometimes deciding the fate of the technology in question. In this paper, we analyse these processes through a ‘hermeneutic’ upstream technology assessment (TA) lens, while applying Roland Barthes’ concept of myths creation. Using the case examples of synthetic biology and neuro-enhancement, we highlight the importance of the role of comparators and the multilayered character of myths. The potential role of TA...

Imagining socio-technical futures – challenges and opportunities for technology assessment

ABSTRACTAn increasing orientation of technology assessment (TA) and adjacent fields toward future socio-technological developments is leading scholars to examine, assess and adapt different approaches of future studies on various levels. In this special issue of the Journal of Responsible Innovation, a number of members of the extended TA community in Europe seek to advance different approaches to handling the unpredictable, to consider various possible socio-technical futures and to explore a more active role in technology design and shaping of the future as required by concepts such as responsible innovation (RI) or responsible research and innovation (RRI). The three German words ‘Zukunft Macht Technik’ (the title of a TA conference in Vienna in 2015) make a nice little pun in German: they can either be interpreted as the short sentence ‘Future shapes technology’ or as the assembly of the three nouns ‘future power technology.’ Both readings are borne in mind in this special issue. A main insight of thi...

Green nano: Positive environmental effects through the use of nanotechnology (NanoTrust dossier No. 045en – May 2015)

The green nano design principles developed by the German NanoCommission constitute an attempt to establish consensus-based guidelines for environmentally friendly and sustainable production. This initiative fits into the objective of international research and development policy (e.g., Responsible Research and Innovation, RRI) and shall enable to incorporate desired societal aspects into technology developments as soon as possible. The present dossier is concerned with the question to what extent a concept along those lines can contribute to environmentally friendly developments in the area of nanotechnology. For this purpose, it introduces research projects which have implemented certain aspects of the green nano design principles. Moreover, on the basis of technological and scientific research and development, the question is raised whether or not, and if so, to what extent concepts such as green nano design principles can support the incorporation of environmental aspects into research.

Why the public perception of risks is to be taken seriously: The special case of nanotechnology (NanoTrust dossier No. 042en – February 2015)

Summary Considering the public perception of risks with regard to technology controversies has increasingly become important since the debates on genetically modified or ganisms (GMOs) in Europe. The percep tion of risks by the population is not com parable with assessments by experts as the concerns stem from a possible direct effect on citizens’ lives, thus subject to dif ferent dynamics. This dossier focusses on factors which influence the public per ception of risks and elaborates on their relevance for regulatory policies. More over, it introduces several European stud ies on familiarity and risk perception of nanotechnology. The studies’ results are similar: While citizens know comparative ly little about nanotechnology, the ques tioned subjects also perceived it as hav ing a relatively low risk potential. There are several possible explanations: Along side a general technology-friendly atti tude, positive media reporting and the broad range of the technology ‐ which makes it difficult to scandalize it as a whole -, a basic trust in institutions con cerned with risks and an accurate, pro active regulatory policy could play an im portant role.

Green nano und der Forschungsalltag – Niederschlag eines Konzepts in der aktuellen Nanotechnologie-Umweltforschung

Zur Entwicklung der Nanotechnologie in Richtung Nachhaltigkeit gilt es, abstrakte Konzepte zu konkretisieren und in den Produktionsprozess, angefangen bei der Forschung und Entwicklung, einzubinden um eine langfristige Ausrichtung zu ermoglichen (Leitbild-Konzept). Im vorliegenden Artikel wird die Entwicklung eines solchen Konzepts zur grunen Nanotechnologie, die green nano Designprinzipien, kurz umrissen um sich in der Folge ihrer Umsetzung im Forschungsalltag im Bereich Nano-Umwelttechnik und einigen beispielhaften Anwendungen in diesem Bereich zu widmen.

Warum die öffentliche Wahrnehmung von Risiken ernst zu nehmen ist – der spezielle Fall der Nanotechnologie (NanoTrust-Dossier Nr. 042 – Dezember 2014)

Die Berucksichtigung offentlicher Risikowahrnehmung in Technologiekontroversen spielt spatestens seit der Diskussion um die Gentechnologie in Europa eine grose Rolle. Die Risikowahrnehmung der Bevolkerung ist nicht mit Einschatzungen von ExpertInnen vergleichbar, weil sie aus einer moglichen unmittelbaren Betroffenheit der BurgerInnen resultiert und daher anderen Dynamiken folgt. Dieses Dossier erlautert einerseits Faktoren, welche die offentliche Risikowahrnehmung beeinflussen und legt deren Relevanz fur die Regulierungspolitik dar. Andererseits stellt es mehrere europaische Studien zur Bekanntheit und Risikowahrnehmung der Nanotechnologie vor. Die Ergebnisse der Studien ahneln sich: BurgerInnen wissen vergleichsweise wenig uber Nanotechnologie, zugleich birgt diese aus Sicht der Befragten verhaltnismasig wenig Gefahrdungspotential. Dafur gibt es mehrere Erklarungsmoglichkeiten: Neben einer generellen Technikfreundlichkeit, positiver Medienberichterstattung und der Breite der Technologie, die eine Skandalisierung schwierig macht, konnten auch ein grundsatzliches Vertrauen in mit Risiken betraute Institutionen und eine akkurate, pro-aktive Regulierungspolitik hier eine Rolle spielen.