The European Technology Assessment Group (ETAG) is a cooperative network of scientific institutions that carries out studies in the field of

technology assessment Technology assessment (TA, German: , French: ) is a scientific, interactive, and communicative process that aims to contribute to the formation of public and political opinion on societal aspects of science and technology. This is a means of as ...

on behalf of the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it adop ...

History and mission

Since October 2005 a group of European scientific institutes active in the field of

– with the Institute for Technology Assessment and Systems Analysis (ITAS),

Karlsruhe Institute of Technology The Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT; german: Karlsruher Institut für Technologie) is a public research university in Karlsruhe, Germany. The institute is a national research center of the Helmholtz Association. KIT was created in 2009 w ...

(KIT), Germany, as the leading partner – has been providing scientific services for the

on social, environmental and economic aspects of new technological and scientific developments. Like many other parliaments in Europe the European Parliament at the end of the 1980s set up an institution for scientific advice regarding complex social, ecological and economic implications of modern technology and scientific research. At the European Parliament the process of consulting is organised by the STOA panel ( Scientific Technology Options Assessment), a parliamentary body consisting of 15 Members of Parliament representing several parliamentary committees. In view of the growing importance of European science and technology policy the European Parliament decided to support STOA's activities by establishing permanent co-operation with a group of institutions with relevant expertise in the field of technology assessment. Starting from May 2009 the European Technology Assessment Group (ETAG) for a second period of three years supports STOA by carrying out TA studies. The focus of ETAG's activities on behalf of the European Parliament will be on studies in the fields of

transport Transport (in British English), or transportation (in American English), is the intentional movement of humans, animals, and goods from one location to another. Modes of transport include air, land ( rail and road), water, cable, pipel ...

, ICT and

Information society An information society is a society where the usage, creation, distribution, manipulation and integration of information is a significant activity. Its main drivers are information and communication technologies, which have resulted in rapid info ...

, nanoscale science and technology,

life sciences This list of life sciences comprises the branches of science that involve the scientific study of life – such as microorganisms, plants, and animals including human beings. This science is one of the two major branches of natural science, th ...

and human well-being as well as

agriculture Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled peop ...

food Food is any substance consumed by an organism for nutritional support. Food is usually of plant, animal, or fungal origin, and contains essential nutrients, such as carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins, or minerals. The substance is ...

and

biotechnology Biotechnology is the integration of natural sciences and engineering sciences in order to achieve the application of organisms, cells, parts thereof and molecular analogues for products and services. The term ''biotechnology'' was first used b ...

Partners

Apart from being leading institutions in the field of

in their home countries most members of the group have long-term experience in policy consulting for parliamentary bodies and most of them are members of the

European Parliamentary Technology Assessment The European Parliamentary Technology Assessment (EPTA) is a network of technology assessment (TA) institutions specialising in advising parliamentary bodies in Europe. Objectives The EPTA partners advise parliaments on the possible social, e ...

(EPTA) network. ETAG is made up by the following organisations: * Institute for Technology Assessment and Systems Analysis (ITAS),

(KIT), which operates the Office of Technology Assessment at the German Parliament *

Danish Board of Technology ''The Danish Board of Technology Foundation'' is engaged in tasks and making contributions to public challenges calling for technology, knowledge, values and actions to be taken in all spheres of society. They work in such areas as IT, genetic eng ...

(DBT), which provides consultancy services for the Danish Parliament *

Rathenau Instituut The Rathenau Institute ( nl, Rathenau Instituut) is an organisation in the Netherlands for technology assessment. It is a member of the European Parliamentary Technology Assessment. The Institute was formed in 1986 as the Netherlands Organisat ...

, working for the Dutch Parliament *

Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research The Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research (Fraunhofer ISI) is part of the Fraunhofer Society for the promotion of Applied Research e.V. (FhG), Europe’s largest application-oriented research organization. The institute is based ...

(ISI), supporting ITAS in carrying out TA studies on behalf of the German Parliament * Catalan Foundation for Research and Innovation (FCRI), rendering scientific services for the Parliament of Catalonia *

Institute of Technology Assessment The Institute of Technology Assessment (ITA) (German: Institut für Technikfolgen-Abschätzung) is a research unit of the Austrian Academy of Sciences in Vienna. The ITA is the only institution in Austria that is entirely devoted to technolog ...

(ITA) of the Austrian Academy of Sciences * Technology Centre AS CR, an institute active in TA related research run by the

Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic The Czech Academy of Sciences (abbr. CAS, cs, Akademie věd České republiky, abbr. AV ČR) was established in 1992 by the Czech National Council as the Czech successor of the former Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences and its tradition goes bac ...

Responsible Technology SAS
a French consultancy devoted to

Responsible Research and Innovation Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) is a term used by the European Union's Framework Programmes to describe scientific research and technological development processes that take into account effects and potential impacts on the environment and ...

(RRI) an
Anticipatory Governance

Projects

The scientific responsibility for each TA study tailored according to the information needs of the

lies with one of the partners. ITAS is responsible for administration, communication with the European Parliament and co-ordination of the activities of ETAG as well as of the group's co-operation with a wider network of TA institutes in Europe. The work programme comprises studies dealing with a broad range of subjects from different sectors of policy making, such as R&D, the environment, health and energy. Topics included: Converging Technologies; Antibiotic Resistance; Galileo Applications; Sustainable Energy Catalogue; Nanotechnology and Chemical Substitution; Options for Road and Air Transports; Cancer Therapy; RFID an identity management; Intellectual Property Rights; Global Human Health; Future Energy Systems in Europe; Future of European Transport; Technology and the Labour Market; Safety of Tunnels; Direct to Consumer Genetic Testing; Animal Welfare; Human Enhancement; ICT and Energy Efficiency; Agricultural Technologies for Developing Countries. Studies carried out by ETAG on behalf of STOA are available at STOA's web page.STOA studies
/ref>

References

External links

Homepage of ETAG
Technology assessment organisations