Biotechnology

Modern biotechnology has been centre-stage in political debates about technology for thirty years. Yet it is still a salient issue, even if the focal points have changed over the years. Initially medicine was at the heart of the debates; later on the emphasis changed to transgenic plants and agriculture. Meanwhile, not only genetic engineering but also medical topics such as stem cell research and cloning have become the focus of interest. Over the years, biotechnology has kept its role as a motor of societal debates far beyond its technological context. Hence, on the basis of its experience with past projects, the field lends itself well to the analysis of TA questions of more general relevance beyond those that the technology itself poses.

is well established in the field of social scientific research on agricultural ("green") biotechnology and on public perception. Work in the medium term programme will make use of previous findings in the fields of political regulation of agricultural biotechnology on the one hand (Precautionary Expertise for GM Crops and earlier projects, ESTO-funded project on the Implementation of the Precautionary Principle), and the development of public perception, press coverage and regulation of biotechnology on the other (Life Science in European Society and earlier projects). Future tasks will be to exploit and extend existing competencies in the field of human genetics and society. We will depart from investigations into the role of cultural "Leitbilder" in human genetics (Life Politics in the Risk Society). In all our work we strive for a genuinely social scientific approach in investigating questions posed by modern biotechnology.

In the light of our work on medical and agricultural biotechnology we will contribute conceptually, over the coming years, to the discussion of changes in the relationship between science, policy and the public that is theoretically oriented to the concept of "the knowledge society". The conference "TA 03: What do we need experts for?" has contributed important inputs into our conceptual work in this field. We will now investigate various forms and functions of policy advice on different applications of biotechnology. In doing so we will take into account the increased political interest in expert advice (e.g. through bioethics commissions) as well as in input aimed at general orientation provided by lay people (through participative procedures). If it proves purposeful, we will compare certain aspects of biotechnology with contested technologies debated in a similar way. On the one hand this is intended to lead to a better choice of suitable instruments for practical policy advice; on the other hand, we hope to be able to contribute to a "theory of policy advice" for decision-making in cases of controversial technology policies.

A second focus of our work during the years to come will be to investigate the impacts of processes going on in the public on the regulation, diffusion and, ultimately, on the shaping of "strategic" technologies – and vice versa. We will discuss this question using the example of certain applications of biotechnology, but we will also compare them to other contested technologies such as nanotechnology. Our basic concept is that in arriving at new solutions science and technology, regulation and the public, evolve partly dependent on each other. This concept throws up several important questions, such as: Which intermediary actors are involved? How have their roles changed in the course of the technology's development? How have they influenced this development? Obviously, there is a link to the investigation of the relationship between expertise and policy, marking an important intersection in the triangle formed by science and technology, policy, and the public.

All projects in the area biotechnology