The Office of Technology Assessment
at the German Parliament
(Short Information)
The Office of Technology Assessment at the German Bundestag (Büro für Technikfolgen-Abschätzung beim Deutschen Bundestag, TAB) was created in 1990 with the objective of improving the information base for the deliberations and the decision-making processes of the German Bundestag relating to research and technology. TAB is operated by the Institute for Technology Assessment and Systems Analysis (ITAS) at the Karlsruhe Research Centre and is an organisational unit of ITAS. Starting from September 2003 the Karlsruhe Research Center cooperates in subareas with the Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research (ISI), Karlsruhe.
TAB's primary task is to design and implement technology assessment (TA) projects. These projects are supplemented by monitoring and analysing important scientific and technological trends and the associated social developments (monitoring). TAB will expand its range of activities in cooperation with ISI by means of contribution to long-term technology foresight (Future Reports) to the analysis of international policies (Policy Benchmarking Reports) and to innovation developments (Innovation Reports).
As seen by TAB the objectives of TA as an advisory function for
policy are,
- to analyse the potentials of new scientific and technological developments and identify and explore the associated social, economic and ecological opportunities,
- to examine the legal, economic and social framework conditions for implementing scientific and technological developments,
- to provide a comprehensive analysis of the potential impact of future utilisation of new scientific and technological developments and indicate the possibilities for strategic exploitation of the potential uses of technologies and avoiding or reducing the associated risks
and from this basis
- to develop alternative options for action and guidance for political decision makers.
In agreement with the Parliamentary Committees of the German Bundestag and the TA rapporteurs appointed by the parliamentary political parties, TAB follows this constructive view of TA in its activities: The primary consideration is not to provide early warning of technology-related risks, but rather to weigh opportunities and risks and to highlight possibilities for shaping new technological developments and their framework conditions.
TAB's work is strictly oriented towards the information needs of the German Parliament and its committees. The political control organ is the Committee on Education, Research and Technology Assessment, which decides on the initiation of TA projects. Motions to start a TA project can be submitted by parliamentary political groups on the Committee on Education, Research and Technology Assessment or in other committees. TAB's director has scientific responsibility for the working results of TAB. Rapporteurs from one or more committees assist TAB projects and help integrate the results into the committees' activities.
The findings of TA projects and other TAB activities are primarily made available in the form of TAB working reports. The final reports on TA projects are also published as printed papers of the German Parliament (Bundestagsdrucksache). Since 1996 final reports on TA projects have appeared in a series of books ("Studies by the Office of Technology Assessment at the German Bundestag"). The twice-yearly TAB letter in German (current run: 2.300 copies) contains primarily information on TAB working programme and reports on the findings of TAB projects and monitoring activities.
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