Patrick Sumpf (Institute for Technology Assessment and Systems Analysis) speaking

Under a Governance perspective TA institutions became itself a Governance actor within the field of regulating socio-technical problems. Moreover and with respect to the advisory function of TA, the theoretical-analytical question has to be addressed which linkages between knowledge and governance exist. Easy to imagine that there are differences between governance of knowledge, governance with knowledge or governance through knowledge. As TA is mainly an activity to produce knowledge for decision-making processes, we have to rethink the TA situation of expertise production and particularly the steering function of knowledge for governance. And the analytical lens of Governance is really helpful for that. The presentations in this session addressed the question of the linkage of TA with Governance from different starting points. Against this background, a deep impression about the challenges for TA under the new regulative situation was got.

The abstracts of the session can be read here.

Presentations of the session:

• P. Sumpf/ C. Büscher/ C. Orwat

Smart grid as black box – The role of consumer trust in the governance of future energy systems

• J. Lacey/ K. Moffat

A new application for TA: Assessing technologies in the mining and minerals industry

• D. Robinson

Patterns in science and society in transition

• M. Barland

Making cross-European TA