Which methods of participatory TA are suitable for current issues in Austrian technology policy?

Citizen participation procedures in technology assessment have shown their value worldwide. However, participatory methods must be adapted to the technology policy issues.

This project selected a number of issues with relevance for Austria to be approached using different methods of public participation. For three such issues (pre-implantation genetic diagnosis, RFID chips and energy efficiency) we proposed suitable methods and a detailed plan for applying them. In addition we showed how Austrian technology policies could also benefit from public participation in the future.

The follow-up of this project at the ITA was FSA Energy, a participatory project to provide advice for the Austrian R&D energy programme e2050.