Description:
The aim of technology assessment (TA) is the extensive examination of a new technology in order to estimate the impacts of applications and further developments. In the United States of America the Office for Technology Assessment (OTA) was founded in 1973 to support the legislative in its decision-making on science and technology policy. Institutions for technology assessment which are linked to the the legislative or the executive are also realized in Europe. An increasing number of private institutions or universities are performing technology assessment or research particularly on technology impacts which are relevant for legislation and decisions in technology policy. However the institutional link between technology impact research and the process of the political decision-making needs to be optimized. A new form of TA which allows the participation of the public in the technology debate is realized in Denmark by the consensus conferences. Equally, the so-called participative TA-procedure allows the integration of scientific and political argumention for technology assessment. In this report aims and approaches of technology assessment are characterized. Reasons for the controversy about gene technology and the approach to a rational debate outlined by TA are discussed. The clear distinction between the impacts of a technology and the goals of its application is required. Then it can be derived which technical alternative is optimal to reach the societal aims. The methods of TA have to be further developed. Because TA offers the frame for a technology debate, which combines scientific and democratic principles in the desicion-making, it may become an important tool to link science, society and politics.