Final Report Summary - PACITA (Parliaments and Civil Society in Technology Assessment) Executive Summary:PACITA is a four-year EU financed project under FP7 aimed at increasing the capacity and enhancing the institutional foundation for knowledge-based policy-making on issues involving science, technology and innovation, mainly based upon the diversity of practices in Parliamentary Technology Assessment (PTA). Such practices involve a range of methods of cross-disciplinary expert studies, stakeholder involvement, citizen consultation and parliamentary discourse.The key practices in focus are interactive in the sense that they engage science, civil society organizations, stakeholders, citizens, parliaments and/or governments directly in the activities in order to activate different kinds of knowledge, engage the actors, create common ownership to the results and enhance the communication between the societal actors.PACITA has 15 European partners from national/regional parliamentary offices for science and technology, science academies, research institutions, universities and civil society organizations coordinated by The Danish Board of Technology Foundation.The PACITA action plan consists of a number of activities:• Documenting TA. Existing praxis in the established Parliamentary Technology Assessment institutions was described by pairs of PTA and non-PTA partners in order to create common knowledge on the state-of-the-art in knowledge-based policy-making. In parallel, a catalogue of potential work modes for developing an cross-European praxis of PTA was established and a book on Technology Assessment gathered the insights and will be published on the Internet and in print.• Training TA. A Summer School was held two times with users and actors as target group (scientists, stakeholder, civil servants, MP/MEPs, etc), in order to facilitate the mobilisation of PTA functions in their home countries. Four Practitioners’ Meetings was made, at which PTA project managers were training newcomer project managers on scoping and framing issues; methodology; networking and impact creation; and communication. Additional resources presenting content of TA websites, training material from the summer schools and practitioner meetings, and web 2.0 facilities for professional e-debates was made available.• Debating TA. Debates in the non-PTA partner countries on the prospects of institutionalizing PTA was facilitated on the basis of an investigation of the historical, political and cultural foundation for such a development. Two rounds of Parliamentary Debates between science and technology committees of European parliaments was created – the first about the documentation of PTA in Europe, and the second after the above mentioned non-PTA country debates. Two European Conferences on TA was made, with a two-track programme in order to facilitate the meeting between PTA and the potential users in newcomer countries. The first track is topical and will engage stakeholders and policy-makers in highly topical discussions around “grand challenges” for Europe. The other track is professional and will provide a workshop program on TA and TA-like methods and activities. A European magazine, VolTA, will be published 8 times during the project, each giving a topical presentation of issues of relevance for knowledge-based policy-making, and abstracts and a synthesis of PTA projects on the topic.• 3 cross-European example projects. The three main methodological clusters in PTA – expert based methods, stakeholder involvement, and citizen consultations – was exemplified by cross-European projects. Each project was coordinated and synthesized at the European level, based on sub-activities at the national/regional level. The issues were chosen as key science and technology issues of the “Grand challenges for Europe” of the Lund Declaration, and will be “Public Health Genomics”, “Ageing Society” and “Sustainable Consumption”.Project Context and Objectives:The PACITA Action Plan will distribute capacity and enhance the institutional foundation for knowledge-based policy-making on issues involving science, technology and innovation, mainly based upon the practices in Parliamentary Technology Assessment (PTA). PTA supports the processes of democratic policy-making on issues involving science, technology and innovation, by providing comprehensiveinsight into knowledge on opportunities and consequences, by facilitating democratic processes of debate and clarification, and by formulating policy options.PACITA has 4 main objectives which the action plan aims at:Enhancing and expanding the European capacity on evidence-based policy-making and policy-making based on using science and research. The example project with regard to this objective treats the issue of Public Health Genomics and will involve cross-disciplinary clarification of four central societal aspects and a parliamentary hearing process.Promoting public engagement in science. PTA has a long tradition on public participation and citizen consultation on science and technology issues. The example project on this objective is a Citizen Consultation on Sustainable Consumption which is an issue that needs strong scientifically based actions, but also involves difficult choices and dilemmas for the individual citizen and potential consumer.Improving the two-way communication between scientists and other stakeholders. The tensions on science and technology mostly involve different viewpoints and interests between and among scientists and stakeholders. The example project called Scenario Workshop on Telecare in the Ageing Society will seek to identify common ground in the field between scientific/technological possibilities and the interest of many stakeholders.Ensuring the ethics in science. Most TA methods are designed to clarify ethical concerns in science and technology and their use in our society. This objective will be addressed in the example projects on Public Health Genomics and the Scenario Workshop on Telecare in the Ageing Society.Project Results:The PACITA action plan consists of a number of activities pivoting around :• Documenting TA.• Training TA. • Debating TA. • Exemplifying cross-European TA In the following the main results will be presented.Documenting TA. The report “PTA practices in Europe” (D2.2) describes and compares current practices of Parliamentary Technology Assessment (PTA) in Europe, and in particular Austria, Catalonia (Spain), Denmark, Flanders (Belgium), Germany, the Netherlands, Norway and Switzerland. It builds upon the in-depth descriptions of PTA practices in Europe in the report “Institutional descriptions and case studies” (D2.1) The key findings are:• “Parliamentary TA” is much broader than the label suggests • Five organisational models for Parliamentary TA is disclosed• Common framework for reflecting on Parliamentary TA is developed• Implications for new countries and regionsThe report “Making cross European TA” (D2.4) discusses the past, present and future CrossEuropean work going on in the field of Parliamentary Technology Assessment. It present the added value in doing work across borders, argue the importance of identifying the right addressee and target groups, and address the tension that may arises from national/regional TA structures and the prospect of doing cross European projects. The paper derives findings from several case studies of finished “cross European TA” projects and discussions from two workshops organized by the PACITA project. Based on these a vision for “European TA 2020” showing how cross European TA may continue to develop in the future is presented.The book “Policy-oriented Technology Assessment across Europe: Expanding Capacities” (D2.5) published by Palgrave MacMillan publishers gives an updated picture of technology assessment (TA) in Europe, and provides outlooks towards the establishment of a common European TA capacity for knowledge-based policy formation. Part I of the book – Expanding Technology Assessment – pushes the concept of TA beyond its traditional limits and shows how TA may be institutionalized as a flexible system of collaborative efforts among a diverse range of actors across Europe. Part II – Practicing cross-European TA – digs into three example projects that were part of PACITA. The final part III of the book – Capacity building for cross-European TA – takes on the concrete question of how to proceed in establishing cross-European TA capacities. The chapters explain some of the steps already taken within the PACITA project and point to future perspectives for building on those efforts. The book is expected to be published on November 13th 2015. In compliance with the FP7 open access policy, the book will both be available for purchase in hardback format and for download in PDF format from the PACITA website as well as the website of the publisher. The published version of the book will be delivered to the Commission as soon as it becomes available.Training TAThe activities on training TA • Distributed knowledge about the potential use and social/economic/political contributions from TA, and about state-of-the-art praxis in TA. • Provided training for users of TA on the potential of TA, its methodology and institutionalisation. • Provided a training scheme for professional practitioners, and made training available through workshops, on-line and as a non-profit service. • Established a European web portal for technology assessment giving access to resources on TA issues, projects, methods, training, and professional support. The TA Portal, an online portal for technology assessment http://technology-assessment.info envisaged as a future one-stop-service for all those interested in technology assessment world-wide, gives access to a database with a wide range of TA-related information (institutions, projects, experts, publications). The Portal provides a search-engine for the meta-data of altogether 17 TA institutions or networks, a total of 205 experts, 621 projects, and 8184 publications. In addition the TA Portal has a section with featured Internet resources of particular relevance to technology assessment (currently 12) and offers a TA news feed, gathered from the TA institutions worldwide (in cooperation with the German openTA Fachportal). Finally, the TA Portal also serves as the archive of the PACITA project results: “PACITA Legacy” is included as one of the data providers; hence all project reports, newsletter items, policy briefs and the three cross-European TA projects are well documented on the Portal. Two very successful Summer Schools of three days each were organised to introduce users, academics and decision makers into the ways Technology Assessment contributes to the public and political discourse about science and technology in society. The participants received introductions into different aspects of TA, from directors and leading project managers at established PTA institutions, followed by a commentary and an interactive discussion part. The idea was to experience basic TA methods by the use of a didactical approach of hands-on problem-driven learning.• The First Summer School “Renewable Energy Systems. Role and Use of Parliamentary Technology Assessment” was held in Liège (Belgium) from 27 to 29 June 2012.• The Second Summer School “Challenges and Opportunities of the Ageing Society: Exploring the role of Technology” was held in Cork (Ireland) from 18 to 20 June 2014.A series of four Practitioners Trainings have been organised within the PACITA project. The trainings were designed to address the four main stages of a TA project (what, why, when, how and who) and the major challenges project managers face when running TA projects. Each seminar lasted three days and gathered about 30 TA professionals from all over Europe. The seminars were open to all institutes performing (or intending to perform) TA, regardless of whether they are involved in the PACITA project.• The first one, “Selecting the theme”, took place on 19-21 September 2012 in Lisbon (Portugal).• The second one, “Methods”, took place on 17-19 April 2013 in Sofia (Bulgaria).• The third one, “Customers, participants and managers”, took place on 20-22 November 2013 in Vilnius (Lithuania).• The fourth and last one, “Communication & impact strategies”, took place on 10-12 September 2014 in Prague (Czech Republic).Debating TAThe activities on Debating TA focused on mobilise actors on establishing TA capacity throughout Europe and create awareness on the benefits of national and cross-European TA. The report Expanding the TA-landscape (D4.3) presents the explorative studies on opportunity structures and barriers for introducing and establishing the concept of Technology Assessment in seven European countries which so far did not have any TA infrastructure for policy advice established at the level of national R&D policy making (government and parliament).Furthermore the results were published in a scientific journal L. Hennen, L. Nierling: A next wave of Technology Assessment? Barriers and opportunities for establishing TA in seven European countries, Science and Public Policy (2015) 42 (1): 44-58, first published online April 21, 2014). Also a special issue on ”TA as an institutionalised practice” was prepared for the TA journal TATuP published by ITAS (http://www.tatup-journal.de/tatup151.php). In addition to the explorative studies two rounds of Parliamentary Debates between science and technology committees of European parliaments was held. The first European-wide Parliamentary Debates on TA was held in June 2012 in the Parliament of Copenhagen and addressed the challenges of policy-making in respect to science and technology issues. The format of the meeting was designed to allow for mutual exchange between participants on their expectations and concerns related to the mission of Technology Assessment. It derived from the discussions that Technology Assessment is expected to create transparency on science and technology, thus helping policy-makers to appreciate both the scientific and society-related aspects of research and innovation policies. But it also appeared that Technology Assessment is challenged by the globalisation of science, technology and politics, so that it has to reflect on new forms of policy advice. The second parliamentary TA Debate, “Strengthening Technology Assessment for Policy-Making”, was held in April 2014 in the Portuguese Parliament, in Lisbon. The debate focused on the actual developments in the TA landscape (initiated or supported by PACITA activities) and the means for consolidating them. The aim of the Second Parliamentary Debate was to explore the role and use of TA in national and European policy-making processes. The discussions promoted a common understanding of the notion of TA among the participants: TA can be seen as a methodological approach delivering a comprehensive and independent analysis of the socioeconomic requirements for the implementation of new technologies, as well as the possible social, economic and environmental impacts. It provides a basis for democratic decision-making in an era of major technological and related social changes. Two scientific European TA Conferences set a scene for the professional discourse on how we can enhance opportunities for creating an open societal dialogue and analysis that can increase the effectiveness of policy making. The first conference “Technology Assessment and Policy Areas of Great Transitions” was held in Prague in March 2013: 87 abstracts submitted, 18 thematic sessions, 3 keynotes and four parallel sessions organized, speakers from over 20 countries participated, 250 persons were registered, book of proceedings published; for more information see http://pacita.strast.cz/en/conference. The second conference “The next horizon of technology assessment” was held in Berlin in February 2015: papers for more than 50 sessions written, 2 keynotes, sessions with special formats as well as scientific sessions organized (plenary, round table, world café etc.), speakers from over 30 countries participated, evening in the German “Parlamentarische Gesellschaft” at the Bundestag organized for parliamentarians from several countries, book of proceedings will be published, 350 persons were registered; for more information see http://berlinconference.pacitaproject.eu/ A European magazine, VolTA, was published 8 times during the project, each giving a topical presentation of issues of relevance for knowledge-based policy-making, and abstracts and a synthesis of PTA projects on the topic. VolTA No 1, December 2011, had a special feature on energy technology and public resistance. VolTA No 2, June 2012, had a special feature on Cybersecurity and critical infrastructures. Volta no. 3, November 2012, had a special report on nanotechnology and food. Volta no. 4, April 2013, had a special feature on Making Perfect Live; the blurring boundaries between Biology and Technology. The special feature in Volta no. 5, October 2013, was about the great promises of Big Data. VolTA No. 6, April 2014, highlighted the subject of „Public Health Genomics“ taking up major results from WP5 of the PACITA project. VolTA No.7 published in November 2014, focused on the subject of Aging and Technology. The final issue (No.8) of VolTA was published in April 2015 included a special report on sustainable consumption (WP7 of the PACITA project), a report on the TA conferences held in the framework of PACITA and an interview with the PACITA coordinator on the achievements of PACITA and reflections on the way forward with TA in Europe.Exemplifying cross-European TA The three main methodological clusters in PTA – expert based methods, stakeholder involvement, and citizen consultations – was exemplified by three cross-European projects. Each project was coordinated and synthesized at the European level, based on sub-activities at the national/regional level. The issues were chosen as key science and technology issues of the “Grand challenges for Europe” of the Lund Declaration, and focused on “Public Health Genomics”, “Ageing Society” and “Sustainable Consumption”.The Future Panel on Public Health Genomics designed a process to showcase how TA institutions can act as mediators between science and policy. Technology constantly pushes the bounds of what medical care can achieve and at what cost. Often a highly expert-driven field, parliamentarians and governmental decision-makers nevertheless become involved in shaping medical innovation through funding decisions and framework regulations. If such interventions are to be both legitimate and effective, they must be made on the basis both of sound evidence and of open dialogue regarding possible pathways. A Future Panel of political decision-makers identified major policy questions relating to the future of public health genomics which were the starting point for a consultation process, bringing together experts who were asked to cover these questions in four Expert Working Group Reports focusing on different themes. On the basis of these reports an Expert Paper was produced with a focus on policy issues raised by developments in public health genomics. Finally, policy options for dealing with these issues were described in a Policy Brief that was discussed in a Policy Hearing involving the Future Panel and a variety of experts (Lisbon, 18 January 2014).In 2014 PACITA carried out the European Stakeholder involvement in Ageing society, which was a cross-European stakeholder involvement and provided both the national and the EU level with substantial input for meeting the societal and technological challenges and opportunities of an ageing population. The underlying argument supporting stakeholder involvement is that it can lead to better-informed policy decisions and more critical discussions about the topic at hand. Scenario workshops were conducted in 10 European countries that addressed the key questions: How can we best use new technology in care services, what is acceptable, what are the needs of senior citizens, and what type of options are policy makers faced with? The results were synthesized in the report “The Future of Ageing - Policy report on technology, innovation and organization in European health care”. The report gave a short overview of the PACITA project and the motivation for the method used for the stakeholder involvement, identified five important policy issues, and described policy recommendations for these five issues. Furthermore, a policy conference took place in Brussels March 17th 2015. All the results, documents and reports from the work package have been published on the project website: http://wp6.pacitaproject.eu. Europe Wide Views on Sustainable Consumption was a cross-European citizen consultation providing unique insights into the views of ordinary citizens across Europe on sustainable consumption and policies connected to this complex issue. The day-long consultation took place simultaneously in 11 EU member states on October 25th 2014 and involved 1035 European citizens. Throughout the day, the participating citizens deliberated with fellow citizens and voted on issues relating to future policymaking on sustainable consumption. Besides the opportunity to deliberate for a full day, the consultation also provided citizens with balanced and scientifically based information which gave rise to well-considered responses. The results from the Europe Wide Views on Sustainable Consumption show how citizens want policy-makers to deal with sustainable consumption: Citizens are strongly in favour of policy-makers taking ambitious steps in order to foster a more sustainable consumption in society. Moreover, citizens want to take action in this process of striving towards a higher degree of sustainability in consumption. According to the participating citizens, sustainable consumption is not an issue that should solely be left to the market. Generally, the outcomes of the consultation show that the EWViews citizens accept policy measures aimed at private consumption. However, in regard to policies targeted at consumers, citizens are mostly in favour of nonintrusive instruments. In order to encourage change in private consumption patterns, the use of financial incentives and awareness-raising are popular policy instruments among citizens. These policy instruments are directly linked to a key message to policy-makers: it should be cheap and easy to consume sustainably. The key outputs were citizen consultation in 11 countries, an Information Booklet and 4 Information videos in all national languages, a Policy Report on Sustainable Consumption, and a Policy event in Brussels in March 2015 presenting the results of the WP and having a panel debate with key target groups. More information can be found on http://citizenconsultation.pacitaproject.eu/Potential Impact:The PACITA ManifestoExpanding Knowledge-Based Policy-Making on Science, Technology and Innovation Technology is a central element in the policy response to the great challenges of our time, such as ageing societies, climate change and public health. In addition, emerging technologies such as synthetic biology, nanotechnology and the ever-changing Internet all challenge established policies. The encompassing quality of technology today is influencing the lives of citizens all over the world. The global transforming power of technology, thus, has to be aligned with policymaking and democracy.Technology Assessment (TA) can be seen as a democratic project in Europe, providing and supporting robust and knowledge-based policy making on societal topics related to science, technology and innovation. It has mostly been established in the western parts of Europe and in connection to national parliaments.Technology development and policies are becoming trans-national. At the same time the need for multi-level action on the grand challenges of our societies is obvious. Modern policy-making needs to bridge these trans-national and multi-level dimensions of the development, regulation, implementation and management of technology. The rapid technological development, in combination with science and technology’s profound influence on societal developments and policy making, calls for an important and increasing role for European TA in the future.The PACITA project has during 2011-15 enhanced European TA by:▪ Enhancing the capacity for doing TA in and across European nations.▪ Increasing cross-European collaboration in TA.▪ Expanding the institutionalization of TA across Europe.▪ Developing the conceptual framework of TA into a more comprehensive ‘policy-oriented approach’, adding to the traditional parliamentary-oriented TA in Europe. ▪ Raising awareness about the possibilities for modern policymaking that lies in TA.TA – a multi-level and cross-border European capacity for the futureThe PACITA project should be seen as a new setoff for a necessary expansion of the European TA landscape: TA should collaborate to increase the capacity of providing robust and independent policy advice for policy makers in all of Europe. As the EU grows and Europe becomes more connected, TA can through strong knowledge sharing and collaboration contribute to knowledge exchange and synergies, which provide for widespread use of the independent and knowledge-based advice from TA. Countries should help each other by sharing TA knowledge and outcomes.TA should be institutionalized in all European countries in order to provide for independent knowledge-based advice, and for engagement of stakeholders, experts, citizens and policy-makers in a collaborative democratic provision of policy options. The diversity in cultures and political contexts in Europe call for national implementation of TA in ways, which are optimal for the single nation. For Europe to develop strong knowledge-based and democratic decision-making TA needs to be implemented in all European states.There is a clear political call for increased parliamentary dialogue across Europe on the technological development and its meaning for our societies. TA should play an active role in setting up that dialogue. In a context of globalization and European construction policy-making on many science- and technology-related issues needs a cross-border approach. As stated by two parliamentary meetings in PACITA TA has an important role to play in setting up parliamentary dialogue across Europe.Citizens in Europe have a democratic right to be heard about the technological development, since technology is strongly influencing their lives. PACITA has proven that TA has the methodology to make that happen on the European level. Over the years, TA has developed a toolbox of methods and approaches for engaging different groups of actors, and especially the involvement of citizens in policy debates. Seeing that the “grand challenges” will demand an understanding of scientific and technological analysis as well as of societal values, TA is well suited for giving advice on these topics, also based upon citizen engagement.Strong TA collaboration on project level across Europe should be encouraged and supported. The development of technology moves forward with increasing pace. Seeing that these developments happen on a European and international level, the need for cross-European TA is evident. Collaboration between countries and institutions will ensure that knowledge from experiences TA units is combined with new thoughts and ideas from emerging TA actors.TA has a crucial role to play in the European strive for ensuring societally responsible research and innovation. Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) has shaped the last years’ policy discourse in Europe related to the societal role of research and innovation. It has given key concepts in TA, such as participation, forward-thinking, reflexivity and policy action, greater focus. TA can and should be a key carrier of the concept and play a light-house role in RRI.Dissemination ActivitiesThe PACITA project has throughout the project put a great emphasis on dissemination activities. The project differentiates between “vertical” and “horizontal” dissemination:The Vertical dissemination is connected to the WPs/tasks in the action plan and is to communicate the work and results of the tasks through involvement (steering groups, work groups, workshops, conferences, debates, hearings, etc.) and information (press meetings, press releases, direct mail, posters, flyers, reports, etc.). An important tool for the vertical dissemination is the many events embedded in the tasks, at which the Action Plan was exposed towards important and large target groups. The main vertical dissemination activities are the two international Parliamentary Debates, two large international scientific conferences on TA, two Summers Schools, 4 Practitioners Trainings, 3 Policy Report debate events, 8 issues of the TA Magazine VolTA, 11 Citizen meetings, 10 Scenario Workshops, more than 10 workshops, a book on TA, several scientific articles, and more than 100 presentations at conferences, public events and workshops . Horizontal dissemination activities all the common communication infrastructures, such as PACITA website, giving information about objectives, methods and results of PACITA in order to ensure transparency of and public access to the results of the project. Web 2.0 communication channels, such as Facebooks pages and Tweets. Direct mail/email will be made to the target groups of the project. Documentary videos about TA/PTA and about PACITA distributed via YouTube. The production of three Communication Packages to be used for presenting PACITA at conferences, seminars, workshops etc. and towards potential actors and cooperation partners. The packages will include text based materials as well as material for new media, such as Podcasts. Active press contact. Scientific publications and presentations on the methods and results of PACITA will communicate to the scientific community, thereby supporting a scholarly discourse on science in society issues and governance, and on TA/PTA in particular. Information to public and political target groups through the networks of the partners, the Advisory Panel and the Associated Partner Group including towards the STOA Panel (Science and Technology Policy Options Panel) of the European Parliament, towards the members and observers of the EPTA network (European Parliamentary Technology Assessment) and towards networks of science academies, Science Centers, democracy and participation CSO’s, science journalists etc.. The official website - www.pacitaproject.eu - was updated throughout the project, and had within the project period had 12875 Unique visitors. In addition to the main website, the PACITA project has additionally 6 WP or task related websites has also been established:o the TA Portal (D3.1)- http://technology-assessment.info/o The sub-website for the 2nd European TA conference was updated http://berlinconference.pacitaproject.eu/ with the programme, calls and other information till the day before the conference 24/02/2015 and after it with the videos recorded.o volTA magazine sub-website was updated with each new number (April 2014, November 2014, April 2015). The images and text used were the same ones of the print version. http://volta.pacitaproject.eu/ o The European Stakeholder involvement in Ageing society (WP6) with complete information about the scenario workshops in several national languages (Catalan, Spanish, Czech, German, English and Norwegian) was updated http://wp6.pacitaproject.eu/home/o Another sub-website http://citizenconsultation.pacitaproject.eu/ was created for the Citizen Consultation (WP7) with complete information about it: Booklet in the organisers’ own languages, policy report, photos and videos.List of Websites:The official website: www.pacitaproject.eu Website for Europe Wide Views on Sustainable Consumption (WP7) - http://citizenconsultation.pacitaproject.eu/ Website for the European Stakeholder involvement in Ageing society (WP6) - http://wp6.pacitaproject.eu/home/Website for the 2nd European TA conference (WP4) - http://berlinconference.pacitaproject.eu/Website for the VolTA magazine (WP4) - http://volta.pacitaproject.eu/ Website for the TA Portal (WP3) - http://technology-assessment.info/ Documents connexes final1-pacita-manifesto.pdf
