Malloy, Timothy F. --- "Integrating technology assessment into government technology policy" [2013] ELECD 1286; in Marchant, E. Gary; Abbott, W. Kenneth; Allenby, Braden (eds), "Innovative Governance Models for Emerging Technologies" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2013) 108

Book Title: Innovative Governance Models for Emerging Technologies

Editor(s): Marchant, E. Gary; Abbott, W. Kenneth; Allenby, Braden

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781782545637

Section: Chapter 6

Section Title: Integrating technology assessment into government technology policy

Author(s): Malloy, Timothy F.

Number of pages: 28

Abstract/Description:

There is little question that we face substantial challenges in the twenty-first century: climate change, disease, poverty, natural resource depletion and degradation, war and terrorism – the list goes on. Emerging technologies will likely be integral in resolving or mitigating many of these challenges; prominent examples include renewable energy technologies, green chemistry, biotechnology, nanotechnology, and informatics. Government policies often play a significant or even central role in advancing the development and diffusion of such technologies. Yet these policies typically fail to account for the unintended adverse health, environmental, social and other consequences that may flow from those technologies. This chapter starts with the premise that the United States’ technology policy ought to integrate principles of protection and promotion so as to ensure the availability of truly beneficial technologies. It examines the extent to which this integration can be accomplished through technology assessment at the legislative stage of policy formulation. For these purposes, technology assessment refers to the systematic assessment and evaluation of the positive and negative impacts of an ostensibly beneficial technology. Technology assessment has a decades-long history, starting primarily in the United States and more recently establishing itself in Europe. It takes many forms, not all of which will be appropriate for use in legislative settings in the United States. After some definitional matters regarding the notion of technological change, the chapter turns to two specific aspects of government technology policy.