The Institute for Technology Assessment and Systems Analysis (ITAS) investigates scientific and technological developments with a focus on their impacts and possible systemic and unintended effects. It produces analytical knowledge and assessments of socio-technical developments in order to provide policy and design options for decision-makers. The research covers ethical, ecological, economic, social, political-institutional, and cultural questions. Major goals are advice for research and technology policy, provision of knowledge for the design of socio-technical systems, and the organization and observation of discursive processes on open and controversial questions of technology policy.
Welcome to ITAS
NEWS
Dissertation on the social context of mobility
In her PhD project at ITAS, Maike Puhe examines how personal networks affect mobility decisions. Her results will be incorporated into an agent-based travel demand model developed at KIT.
more
Short film explaining real-world labs
A real-world lab – what is that supposed to be actually? It is a central challenge in transdisciplinary work to present science in an understandable way. With its new short film, the real-world lab Quartier Zukunft wants to contribute to that.
more
Futures of the human body
The FUTUREBODY research project, coordinated by ITAS, deals with the potential and increasingly real technologization of humans. Its transdisciplinary approach includes a film festival, which is open to submissions of work until the end of July.
moreNEW PUBLICATIONS
TATuP on Digitalization in the Global South
Information and communications technology (ICT) creates new opportunities, but also poses risks. The TATuP special topic in issue 2/2019 addresses specific challenges in the Global South and places TA of digitalization in a global context.
more
Working time and climate change
To effectively counter the climate crisis at current emission levels, people in Germany would need to limit themselves to six hours of work a week in the future. This is the conclusion drawn by Philipp Frey in his study “The Ecological Limits of Work”.
more