Semiannual reports and short studies on current issues and trends as a service for parliamentarians

PD Dr.
Director
Michael Nentwich, originally a lawyer, is a science and technology scholar, a passionate technology assessor and, since 2006, the director of the ITA. His main research field in technology assessment is the Internet and its influence on society and science.
Born in 1964 and raised in Vienna, he studied economics at the Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration, and political science and law at the University of Vienna, where he graduated with an LL.M. in 1988, acquiring his Ph.D in 1995 with a thesis on European food law. In 1989/90 he pursued post-graduate studies at the College of Europe, Bruges (Belgium). In 2004 he received his venia docendi ("habilitation") in Science and Technology Studies (STS) from the University of Vienna on the basis of his book on the impact of the Internet on academia.
Michael Nentwich started his career as junior scientist at the Technology Assessment Unit (TAU, the predecessor of the ITA) in 1990 with projects on environmental impact assessment, loyalty cards, and telecommunication law. Between 1991 and 1996 he worked as a lecturer at the Research Institute for European Affairs of the Vienna University of Economics; in 1994/95 he spent a year abroad as a Human Capital Mobility Fellow at the Universities of Warwick and Essex (England), where he wrote a book on European constitutional development. From 1996 to 2005 he persued research as a junior, later senior scientist at the ITA, mainly in the field of the information society. A further year abroad in 1998/99 as a guest scientist at the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies, Cologne, was devoted to his research on cyberscience.
Since 2006 he has been the director of the ITA. From 2013 to 2018, he was a member of the OeAW Commission on Sustainable Mobility, and from 2011 to 2015, he was the deputy chairman of the Conference of the Heads of Research Institutes of the OeAW. Among others he is a member of the scientific advisory board of the Journal for Technology Assessment in Theory and Practice (TATuP).
His publication list includes a number of books, among them the two volumes "Cyberscience. Research in the Age of the Internet" (2003) and "Cyberscience 2.0 –Research in the Age of Digital Social Networks" (2012), as well as numerous articles in scientific journals and edited volumes.
Soziale Medien fassen auch in der Wissenschaft Fuß, denn sie sind für die Kommunikation von Wissenschaftlern untereinander und mit der Öffentlichkeit zumindest teilweise funktional. Dieser Beitrag systematisiert den aktuellen Einsatz sozialer Medien in der Wissenschaft heute, wagt einen Blick in die nahe Zukunft und erörtert die bereits absehbaren Trends im Zusammenhang mit dem zunehmenden Gebrauch von sozialen Netzwerkseiten, Blogs, Microblogs, Wikis, Crowdsourcing-Plattformen etc. für wissenschaftliche Zwecke.
This article describes parliamentary technology assessment (PTA) in relational terms.1 We conceptualize PTA as fulfilling a mediating function between the spheres of parliament, government, science and technology, and society. This mediation is thought to take place through a set of interaction mechanisms on the institutional, organizational and/or project level that enable and constrain the involvement of actors from the above-mentioned four social spheres in shaping the practice of PTA. This enables us to model, map, and analyze how PTA in various European countries and regions is set up to interact with members of parliament, government, science and technology, and society. We found that the possible relationships between the PTA organization and each of the four social spheres have to be analyzed and carefully designed when thinking about setting up PTA. Countries with an interest in setting up PTA are not restricted to existing institutional models, but may create a model that is particularly suited to their own political and societal environment.
This article introduces an inclusive way of modelling (Parliamentary) Technology Assessment, (P)TA as developed in the European PACITA project. It incorporates interdependencies between and diversity among existing and potential (P)TA practices in a more inclusive and fine-grained way than existing literature does. We model (P)TA as a mediating function between the spheres of parliament, government, science and technology, and society. We suggest that this mediation takes place through a set of interaction mechanisms that include institutional, organizational and project dimensions. In this way, we distinguish among 15 potential interaction models for (P)TA. Our more inclusive way of modelling may be used to map and discuss fruitful evolutionary pathways for (P)TA in countries and regions where (P)TA already exists or where the ambassadorship for (P)TA is about to take off. In the conclusion, we reflect on the relevance of our modelling for the discourse on and practice of responsible innovation.
This interdisciplinary, social scientific analysis of the regulatory discourse on nanotechnology in the three German-speaking countries of Germany, Austria and Switzerland and in the EU between 2000 and 2013 has shown three distinct phases, characterised by shifts in the configuration of actors and in the thematic scope from nanotechnology to nano-materials. Compared to modes of governance based on traditional statutory law, modes of governance based on less binding forms of soft law and self-regulation (like codes of conduct, guidelines and certification systems) and newmodes of governance (like assessment studies, risk management frameworks as well as participatory and cooperative forms of communication and negotiation) have gained importance. Despite some similarities, two different cultures in governing nanotechnology can be distinguished: a product-oriented culture in statutory regulations (when speaking about products, the article is also referring to substances) and a risk-based culture in applying soft law based on new modes of governance. In addition, the different regulatory cultures have led to four strategic approaches: modes of governance mainly based on hard law and soft law at the EU level, modes of governance mainly based on cooperative and self-regulatory approaches in Germany, cooperative governance approaches in Austria and modes of governance mainly based on self-regulatory and soft law approaches in Switzerland.
With social network sites (SNS) becoming a pervasive phenomenon, already existing conflicts with privacy are further intensified. As shown in this paper, online and (once) offline contexts increasingly conflate, thereby posing new challenges to the protection of the private sphere. SNS quickly evolve their features and challenge privacy preferences, often without user consent; “social graphs” make social relations extensively transparent; social plugins interconnect user traces from inside and outside the SNS. As large amounts of personal information available in SNS are processed with rich context information, the individual’s informational self-determination is heavily strained. These data attract potential and real observers for behavioural advertising and profiling by security authorities alike. We argue that emerging SNS usage (social plugins, increasing role of biometrics, mobile computing) multiplies privacy challenges as all privacy types become affected. This raises additional demand for public policy to foster privacy-by-design combined with awareness-raising mechanisms to improve informational self-determination.
The OAW has been operating an institutional repository for years, its pub- lishing house is a Romeo green publisher and many OAW publications are freely available in digital format. In 2011 the OAW presiding committee adopted an explicit open access policy, advising its scientific staff to self-archive their publications according to the green road principle. Various organisational and technical measures aim at increasing the self-archiving rate considerably in the future.
This paper argues that the system of formal scholarly publication is entering its third phase of evolution. This phase has not yet taken full shape, but be characterised by a strong de-commodified core with only niches for commercial publishers – in contrast to phase II which was the age of increasing commodification. The main reasons for this development are economic, functional and ideational. The current economic crisis of academic publishing is driving academia to alternative models. From a functional perspective, the advent of E-publishing makes it possible that academia will take over most of what is currently done by the commercial publishers. Finally, the last decade has seen an increasing awareness of the research community that its products should not be treated as a commodity, but should instead be freely available to the whole community.
The scholarly community is witnessing a considerable increase in its daily use of information and communication technologies (ICT). The paper argues, first, that ICT affect virtually all forms of scholarly activity as well as its framework conditions; second, that the manifold developments faced by scholars do not only accelerate communication or increase the publication output, but also have the potential to lead to qualitative changes in research and its organisation.
On the occasion of its first ‘birthday’, I describe in this paper the common access point for a series of high quality online papers in the field of European integration research and its recently established policy vis-à-vis new series to be added to this archive. Reporting on our debates about this ‘enlargement policy’ gives me the opportunity to discuss the wider issue of quality filters in the digital age. I hereby develop several ideal-typical scenarios in order to analyse the balance between, on the one hand, promoting quality and, on the other, providing comprehensive access.
Bislang wurden Dienste auf Basis moderner Informationstechnologie (IT) innerhalb der Verwaltung, wie Cloudcomputing, Automatisierung und Künstliche Intelligenz, hauptsächlich aus den Blickwinkeln der technischen Machbarkeit, der BenutzerInnenfreundlichkeit und der wirtschaftlichen Effizienz betrachtet. Die Perspektive der staatlichen Souveränität, also der digitale Souveränität, steht noch aus. Dieser Artikel ist ein erster Versuch, die zahlreichen Folgen der IT für unser Verständnis der Rolle des Staates im Allgemeinen, der Plattform-Souveränität (Google) und der staatlichen Rolle als Regulator, Dienstleistungsanbieter und Käufer solcher Technologien zu überblicken. Darüber hinaus werden die gesellschaftlichen Folgen und Risiken der digitalen Technologien für politische und administrative Funktionen dargestellt und diskutiert. Die Autoren kommen zum Schluss, dass die Souveränität des Staates im digitalen Zeitalter unter großem Druck steht, sie stellen die entscheidenden Fragen, die in der Folge näher untersucht werden sollten und machen Vorschläge, wie die Gesellschaft mit dieser Herausforderung umgehen könnte.
This paper is a systematic comparison of 15 institutions world-wide, which deliver technology assessment (TA) services to their respective parliaments, i.e. perform parliamentary technology assessment (PTA). The fields of comparison are: the role of the parliamentarians (members of parliament) in the TA process; the institutional location inside or outside the parliament; the competence in the parliament for dealing with TA; the type of financing of PTA activities; the mission of the (P)TA institution; its legal status; how topics are selected; whether the topics have a narrower or wider technology notion; what the time frame for the chosen topics is; the working modes; the methods; the number of staff and budget; and finally how they communicate their results.
Nentwich gives an in-depth account of developments within the TA community towards a common e-infrastructure for technology assessment (TA). The author argues that while technology development is genuinely international, there are too few endeavours to address technology assessment (TA) issues internationally; likewise, there are no sustainable online platforms for knowledge sharing, dissemination and public debate as yet. The PACITA project partners therefore worked to establish such an infrastructure by means which the article details. Creating and sustaining a strong, interactive e-infrastructure for cross-European TA is both greatly challenging and worthwhile as it would ultimately help to nuance and possibly even democratize European science, technology and innovation policy. Nentwich therefore argues for the continuation of these efforts by central actors in and supporters of TA.
Van Est et al. present a ‘relational’ model for analysing technology assessment (TA) institutions. Expanding on metaphor of TA as a bridge between science, society and policy, the authors describe how such bridges are established in terms of network relations. European TA institutions in various ways link parliaments and governments with civil society and science. In part, TA projects provide such linkages, but importantly, TA institutions in themselves also provide informal personal links between societal spheres. With in-depth examples from diffrent European member states, Van Est et al. provide institutional entrepreneurs with rich material for imagining institutional TA arrangements that might fi within their own national arenas.
Um nachhaltiges individuelles Verkehrsverhalten zu erreichen, ist es wesentlich, Probleme im aktuellen Verkehrssystem, die ein Hemmnis für nachhaltige Mobilität darstellen, zu analysieren, um entsprechende technische und organisatorische Lösungen sowie begleitende gesellschaftspolitische Maßnahmen (etwa auch zur Förderung sozialer Innovationen) vorschlagen zu können. Das vorliegende Diskussionspapier versucht dies auf folgende Weise zu erreichen:
Es werden zunächst die zukünftigen Entwicklungen im Verkehrssektor und Mobilitätsbereich abgeschätzt, wobei verschiedene Facetten des Mobilitätsbedürfnisses, Fragen der Raumordnung, neue Verkehrs- und Mobilitätskonzepte und Alternativen zu gegenwärtigen Formen von Mobilität und Verkehr eine Rolle spielen. Ausgehend von der Erörterung jener Faktoren, die Mobilitätsentscheidungen und Verkehrsmittelwahl beeinflussen oder prägen und welchen Einfluss diese auf dem Weg zu nachhaltiger Mobilität und zu nachhaltigem Verkehr haben, werden anschließend Umsetzungsfragen erörtert und sowohl technologische Möglichkeiten und Wege zur Verhaltens- und Lebensstiländerung, als auch die gesellschaftlichen Kräfte, die dabei eine Rolle spielen, sowie politisch-rechtliche Rahmenbedingungen und wirtschaftliche Fragen betrachtet. Abschließend werden Lösungsempfehlungen aus dem hier gewählten Zugang und den absehbaren Trends formuliert.
Nanotechnology products, processes and applications have the potential to make important contributions to environmental and climate protection by helping save raw materials, energy and water as well as by reducing greenhouse gases and problematic wastes.
Emphasis is often placed on the sustainable potential of nanotechnology, but this in fact represents a poorly documented expectation. Determining a product’s actual effect on the environment – both positive and negative – requires considering the entire life cycle from the production of the base materials to disposal at the end of its useful life. Only few life cycle analyses have been conducted, but some show clearly reduced environmental impacts or energy and resource savings for certain products that use nanomaterials or nanotechnology processes. Nonetheless, not every “nano-product” is a priori environmentally friendly or sustainable, and the production of nanomaterials often requires large amounts of energy, water and environmentally problematic chemicals.
There is currently no clear evidence that engineered nanoparticles (ENPs) pose a significant threat to the environment. Nonetheless, major gaps in our knowledge exist, espially in the fields of environmental analytics, ecotoxicology, evironmental exposure and fate and behavior of synthetic nanomaterials in natural environmental compartments (air, water, soil and sediment). Findings of ecotoxicological research of selected nanomaterials – carbon nanotubes (CNTs), nanosilver, nano-titan dioxide (nano-TiO2) are pointed out.
Die Analyse nanotechnologiespezifischer Regulierungsdiskurse der Jahre 2000 bis 2012 in den drei deutschsprachigen Ländern Deutschland, Österreich, der Schweiz und auf EU-Ebene hat eine thematische Einengung von Nanotechnologie zu Nanomaterialien und eine damit verbundene Verschiebung der Akteurskonstellationen über drei Phasen gezeigt. Abschätzungsstudien, informelle und selbstregulatorische Steuerungsansätze sowie partizipative und kooperative Verständigungs- und Aushandlungsformen gewannen im Vergleich zu traditionellem legislativem Handeln an Bedeutung. Trotz gewisser Übereinstimmungen und Vermischungen ließen sich zwei grundsätzlich verschiedene nanotechnologiebezogene Regulierungskulturen feststellen: eine anwendungsorientierte auf EU-Ebene, und eine risikobasierte auf Staatenebene. Die verschiedenen Regulierungskulturen führten in den untersuchten Fällen zu vier unterschiedlichen strategischen Ansätzen: gesetzliche und informelle Regulierung auf EU-Ebene, kooperativer und selbstregulatorischer Ansatz in Deutschland, kooperativer Ansatz in Österreich und selbstregulatorischer und informeller Ansatz in der Schweiz.
Kennzeichnung ist Teil des Risikomanagements. In der Regel werden damit unterschiedliche Ziele verfolgt: Einerseits sollen Kennzeichnungen den Verbraucherinnen und Verbrauchern mündige Kaufentscheidungen ermöglichen und sie vor irreführender Information schützen; andererseits sollen sie durch einen sicheren Rechtsrahmen innovative Produktentwicklung ermöglichen und fördern. Konsumentinnen und Konsumenten werden damit in das Risikomanagement verschiedener Produktgruppen mit einbezogen. Die Kennzeichnung nanomaterialhaltiger Produkte war von Anfang an Bestandteil des Nanoregulierungsdiskurses sowohl auf nationaler als auch auf EU-Ebene. Während die Mitgliedstaaten auf nationale Alleingänge bislang verzichteten, finden nanospezifische Kennzeichnungspflichten zunehmend Eingang in das EU-Recht, vorerst in den Bereichen Kosmetika, Lebensmittel und Biozidprodukte. Darüber hinausgehende internationale Initiativen zur freiwilligen Kennzeichnung konnten sich bislang nicht am Markt durchsetzen.
Cloud Computing and Social Network Sites (SNS) are some of the most controversially discussed IT developments in recent years. Huge expectations exist for Cloud Computing, providing lower costs of computing while increasing employment. However, Cloud Computing as well as the use of SNS may come with a substantial risk of losing data privacy. The project conducted on Cloud Computing Services and Social Network Sites addressed the potential and impacts of these technologies. The project report showed that (1) adequate data security and privacy are critical but difficult to achieve, that (2) more consumer protection is needed and that (3) the market for Cloud Computing is not growing as fast as initially forecast, resulting in a lower than expected increase of employment and lower contribution to GDP growth.
Das Internet mit seinen Potenzialen an digitaler Vernetzung, Publikationsmöglichkeiten und Kommunikationsformen verändert die Forschung und ihre Ergebnisse nachhaltig. Wissenschaftler und Wissenschaftlerinnen twittern und bloggen, arbeiten in spezialisierten digitalen Netzwerken zusammen und nutzen Wikipedia. Zugleich dringen große Internetakteure wie etwa Google immer mehr in den akademischen Sektor ein. Das Buch analysiert die aktuellen technisch-sozialen Entwicklungen im Internet sowie ihre Auswirkungen auf die Arbeit von Wissenschaftlern.
-> Electromagnetic fields have already been considered a potential health risk with previous generations of mobile radio communication. In 2011, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) classified mobile phone radiation as “possibly carcinogenic”. To this day, experts continue to discuss this topic with much controversy. -> 5G, the latest generation of mobile phone networks, promises to transmit larger amounts of data with lower latency. Industry 4.0, augmented reality games or the Internet of things rely on such higher performance. -> The assessment of risks and gaps of knowledge enables precautionary regulation and a prudent approach to 5G
-> Digitisation also changes politics and the state. State sovereignty is massively challenged, especially with regard to administrative action, digital infrastructure, and democratic processes.
-> Digital sovereignty refers to the exclusive self-determination of legal entities such as states and natural persons under the conditions of digitisation.
-> In order to (re)establish digital sovereignty, it is necessary to act consistently on various levels (national and international), both in technical, organisational and regulatory terms, and not least in public discourse.
Digitalisierung verändert auch Politik und Staat. Die staatliche Souveränität ist massiv herausgefordert, insbesondere im Hinblick auf das Verwaltungshandeln, die digitale Infrastruktur und demokratische Prozesse.
Digitale Souveränität bezeichnet die ausschließliche Selbstbestimmung von Rechtssubjekten wie
Staaten und natürlichen Personen unter den Bedingungen der Digitalisierung.
Um digitale Souveränität (wieder) herzustellen, ist konsequentes Agieren auf verschiedenen
Ebenen (national und international) notwendig, sowohl in technischer und organisatorischer als
auch in regulativer Hinsicht und nicht zuletzt im öffentlichen Diskurs.
-> Worldwide, large online retailers, postal operators and numerous start-ups are developing and testing drone-operated parcel deliveries.
-> Despite technology not having been fully developed, feasibility has been demonstrated. However, in most countries, the law does not yet allow autonomous drones; specific air traffic rules would have to be developed.
-> Omnipresent drone flights would have a series of environmental, safety, ethical, and societal implications that stipulate a need for public debate before implementation and regulation.
-> Große Online-Händler, Postunternehmen und zahlreiche Startups weltweit entwickeln und testen die Lieferung von Paketen mittels Drohnen.
-> Obwohl die Technologie noch nicht ausgereift ist, ist es machbar. In den meisten Ländern erlaubt das Gesetz allerdings keine autonom fliegenden Drohnen; spezifische Luftverkehrsregeln müssten noch erarbeitet werden.
-> Ein Himmel voller Drohnen hätten eine Reihe von Folgen für Umwelt und Sicherheit, sowie gesellschaftliche und ethische Auswirkungen. Daher besteht öffentlicher Diskussionsbedarf über Umsetzung und Regulierung.
Tel.: +43 1 515 81-6583
Fax: +43 1 515 81-6570
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mnent(at)oeaw.ac.at