19^th International CODATA Conference
Category: Economic Development

The Roles of Technology Assessment and Civil Society in the Development of Controversial Technical Innovations

Thomas Ruddy (thomas.ruddy@empa.ch)
EMPA Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Testing and Research, Switzerland

Civil Society (CS) often tries to exercise influence on the development of controversial technical innovations that are expected to benefit some smaller groups often in the private sector for reasons of economic efficiency or commercial profit or to combat terrorism. Recent examples of such attempts include governance of the expanding Internet Domain Name System (DNS), especially the profitable “dot.coms”, the introduction of biometric passports bearing Radio-Frequency Identifiers (RFID) to monitor foreigners’ crossing borders with Passenger Name Records (PNR) and the introduction of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO) to boost crop yields and provide new medical treatments. Typically the innovation takes place in the private sector. However national governments soon intervene to regulate, when citizen dissatisfaction becomes apparent, and intergovernmental organizations become involved when conflicts arise between the governments.

Similar to the manner in which debates are often relegated to authorities on ever-higher levels, CS organizations on the national level may join forces to have their voices better heard on the international level. This paper studies the nature of the relationship between CS and the respective Inter-Governmental Organization (IGO), where the respective conflict surfaces between nations, or supranational entities such as the European Union (EU), which act as opinion leaders in global discourses. The study tries to predict the outcome of such struggles using mainly the methodology of qualitative interviews and analysis of the opinions expressed publicly, often through the new communication tools, the listserv and Weblog. Traditional research tools such as academic publishing and observations at international fora such as the UN prove typically too slow for the speed with which discourses on modern technological developments are taking place.

Results of the study show that if potential risks are not assessed in the technical sphere as part of predictive technology assessment, the ensuing debate in the political sphere may come too late for any correction of investments that are made in the new technology.