In 2016, Austria will hold the year-long presidency of EPTA, the international network for Parliamentary Technology Assessment. Austria will follow France, the current EPTA president.

At the EPTA council meeting in Paris on September 24, Austria was represented by Ruperta Lichtenecker, Member of Parliament and Chairwoman of the Committee on Research, Innovation and Technology, and Michael Nentwich, director of the Institute of Technology Assessment (ITA) of the Austrian Academy of Sciences.

"I am very proud that the responsibility of the presidency was entrusted to us for the coming year. This role offers us a twofold opportunity: We can present Parliamentary Technology Assessment in Austria to an international community and bring together Austrian parliamentarians with their colleagues from all over Europe", says Nentwich.

Lichtenecker’s speech also focused on the new, intensive cooperation between the Austrian Parliament and the ITA: At present, the ITA is conducting a pilot study for the National Council on "Industry 4.0 - Social dimension of the next industrial revolution", as well as a feasibility study on the potential contribution of Foresight and Technology Assessment to the work of Parliament.

"EPTA shows on an international level that the cooperation between science and policy can work. We hope that the opportunity for closer exchanges with other countries will also strengthen the dialogue between the ITA and the Austrian Parliament ", said Nentwich.