Technology Assessment for Parliaments - Towards Reflexive Governance of Innovation

Bütschi and Almeida explore TA's importance for policy making today, taking into consideration parliamentarians' needs and expectations. The chapter highlights the challenges policy makers have to face when dealing with science, technology and innovation and discuss how TA can address them at an institutional level. These challenges go beyond the complexity of STI policy issues. Globalization challenges policy making on science and innovation as issues spill over national boundaries. As innovation is increasingly expected to foster growth and employment, policy making has to foster innovation and mitigate risks. And last but not least, the financial crisis is challenging parliamentary democracy with top-down fiscal crisis policies. This is where the advanced dialogical and transdisciplinary practices of TA may add value that other advisory practices cannot.