On June 2, Michael Nentwich and his team, together with around 300 guests from Austria, Germany, the Netherlands and Switzerland, celebrated the 20th anniversary of the Institute of Technology Assessment (ITA). “We will continue to focus on independent scientific research with a social relevance”, said Nentwich in his welcome speech.
The anniversary comes at an exciting time: Having recently become a member of the European TA network EPTA, the ITA is currently planning a closer cooperation with the Austrian Parliament. Citizen participation continues to play a very important role: In February, as part of the EU project SurPRISE, the ITA organized an international citizen forum on security and surveillance. In late October, again as part of a Europe-wide forum, a citizen forum on sustainable consumption will take place in Vienna.
Photo Gallery "Celebrating 20 Years"
"The ITA does excellent work at the cross-roads between science, politics and society. ‘Science for Policy’ is one of the current priorities of the Academy of Sciences, and we consider ourselves part of a development that is currently taking place within a number of international scientific bodies", said Academy President Anton Zeilinger, who opened the event via video message.
Creating eye-openers
"After two decades we are now witnessing not only an increasing demand for TA, we can also look back on a number of successful collaborations with international TA institutions as well as partners in the areas of science and administration", said Nentwich. "We had many eye-opening experiences during this time, and we like to think we also caused some for our partners. We will continue to strive to find a productive, interdisciplinary work culture.”
TA means for Nentwich, "to bring into view non-obvious and unintended consequences of new technologies. We want to point out knowledge gaps and help find alternative development strategies.”
Guests of honor and bizarre instruments
The keynote held by Renate Mayntz, the doyenne of German sociology, addressed the ongoing challenges for technology assessment. Host Birgit Dalheimer welcomed as guests Member of Parliament Ruperta Lichtenecker, Barbara Weitgruber from the Ministry of Science, Research and Economics, Sergio Bellucci, director of the Swiss Centre for Technology Assessment, and Armin Grunwald, director of the Office of Technology Assessment at the German Bundestag. Composer and instrument maker Richard Eigner (aka Ritornell) contributed original music and sound installations.
13.06.2014
Denise Riedlinger