On 23 September, at the Lapland meeting in Kittilä/Finland, the ITA’s pledge for a full membership on behalf of Austria was accepted by the EPTA Council. The EPTA (European Parliamentary Technology Assessment) is a network of technology assessment (TA) institutions specialising in advising parliamentary bodies in Europe.

Attending the meeting were the ITA’s directors Michael Nentwich and Walter Peissl, as well as Gerhard Koller, Chief of the Department for European Affairs at the Austrian Parliament. Also among the participants were Austrian Member of the European Parliament Paul Ruebig and Member of the Federal Council Stefan Schennach in his role as delegate for the Council of Europe.

“The full membership of Austria opens up new potential for Austrian members of parliament to discuss science and technology policy matters with their colleagues from other countries. They can compare different national approaches and determine important issues for future projects“, says Nentwich.

Lichtenecker: "Important ongoing dialogue"

Ruperta Lichtenecker, the Chairwoman of the Parliament‘s Commission on Science, Technology and Innovation (FIT-Ausschuss), congratulated the ITA in a statement, as she had to cancel her personal attendance on short notice: “As FIT Chairwomen I have been in an ongoing dialogue with the ITA for the past years. Technology assessment looks at the effects of new technologies from different perspectives. Thus, I am looking forward to continue the discussion“.

“As an associate EPTA member, we were already able to do a number of projects with our European partners. The full membership will further increase our visibility. We are also very happy about the growing interest for TA by Austria’s politicians“, adds Nentwich.

The three-day-meeting included an update on PACITA, an EU project in which the ITA is also involved. The main topic on the agenda was the technologically responsible development of the Arctic region.