Assessing The Societal Implications Of Emerging Technologies Hardcover

India

Evan S. Michelson

A growing problem of interest in the field of science and technology policy is that the next generation of innovations is arriving at an accelerating rate, and the governance system is struggling to catch up. Current approaches and institutions for effective technology assessment are ill suited and poorly designed to proactively address the multidimensional, interconnected societal impacts of science and technology advancements that are already taking place and expected to continue over the course of the 21st century. This book offers tangible insights into the strategies deployed by well-known, high-profile organizations involved in anticipating the various societal and policy implications of nanotechnology and synthetic biology. It focuses predominantly on an examination of the practices adopted by the often-cited and uniquely positioned project on emerging nanotechnologies in the united states, as well as being informed by comparisons with a range of institutions also interested in embedding forward-looking perspectives in their respective area of innovation. The book lays out one of the first actionable roadmaps that other interested stakeholders can follow when working toward institutionalizing anticipatory governance practices throughout the policymaking process.

1138123439

9781138123434

English

Taylor & Francis Ltd

19 May 2016

226

Evan S. Michelson is a Program Director at the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, USA

With the sophistication of a scholar and the savvy of a Washington insider, Evan Michelson reveals the research and policy roles of the Woodrow Wilson International Center's Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies. In doing so, he creates much-needed perspective on the role of NGOs in the anticipatory governance of nanotechnology and other emerging technologies.-David H. Guston, Professor and Founding Director, School for the Future of Innovation in Society, Arizona State University, USA; "In this meticulously documented yet engaging work, Michelson details how recent networked, non-governmental alternatives to US government technology assessment provide superior long term governance of emerging nanotechnologies and synthetic biology. The book compellingly argues that new anticipatory nongovernmental approaches `proactively address the multidimensional, interconnected societal impacts of science and technology advancements.'"-Barbara Herr Harthorn, Director, Center for Nanotechnology in Society, University of California at Santa Barbara, USA