Gerhard Banse (ed.)
Technological and Environmental Policy
Studies in Eastern Europe
Berlin: edition sigma 2007, Reihe: Gesellschaft - Technik - Umwelt, Neue Folge 6,
ISBN 978-3-89404-936-2, 312 Seiten, 19,90 Euro
[Contents]
Editorial
“Terra incognita” – this is how one could describe, surely a little exaggerated, the
situation in the middle of the 1990s which many of those dealing with interdisciplinary
technology and environmental research in the Federal Republic of
Germany – but not only those! – found themselves in when they looked “east”
into the countries of Central, Eastern and South-Eastern Europe, representing
about 20 sovereign countries in the succession of the former socialist states. It
was “unknown land” – also regarding the knowledge here of e. g. the situation
of the environment, restructuring in industry and agriculture, transformations in
the field of science, or approaches in technology policy on the other side of the
rivers Oder and Neiße, the Erzgebirge mountains and the Bohemian Forest.
But in the past years a lot has changed here: improved situation regarding
information, better understanding of the respective problem situation, joint
activities. This is also – but not only! – the result of intensive, diverse and systematic
cooperation relationships of the Institut für Technikfolgenabschätzung und
Systemanalyse with scientific institutions mainly in Poland, Romania, Russia,
Hungary, the Slovak and Czech Republics in the last years.
The aim of these “go east” ITAS activities is, on the one hand, to “watch”
institutional and content-related activities in the field of interdisciplinary technology
and environmental research (monitoring) in order to create starting
points for cooperation opportunities. On the other hand, bi- and multilateral
activities should be carried out to concentrate and combine different conceptual
as well as methodological knowledge in the fields of technology risk assessment
and environmental research. This mainly concerns
- research on theoretical and methodical aspects of technology risk assessment
and environmental research under the influence of ethical interrelations;
- knowledge transfer in the field of education (related to both that of natural,
technological and economic scientists and of social and human scientists).
Since these activities form the background of this book, they should be considered
in more detail. It is not possible to list all cooperation partners here,
especially since some contacts were or are only temporary for reasons of time
or personnel. But the following should be mentioned as examples:
- for Poland: Silesian University Katowice (Institutes for Philosophy and
Cultural Science), University for Social Sciences and Management Tychy
as well as the Technical University Rzeszów;
- for Romania: University “1 Decembrie 1918” Alba Iulia;
- for Russia: Institute for Philosophy of the Russian Academy of Sciences,
Lomonossov-University, International Independent University for Ecology
and Politology as well as State Technical Baumann University (all in Moscow);
- for the Slovak Republic: Chair for Ethics and Applied Ethics of the Matej
Bel-University Banská Bystrica;
- for the Czech Republic: Centre for Science, Technology and Society Studies
at the Institute for Philosophy of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech
Republic, Prague;
- for Hungary: Chair for Theory of Economy and History of Technology of
the Technical and Economic University Budapest.
Especially through
- the initiation and implementation of joint (short-term as well as long-term)
activities (in particular research projects, workshops and conferences, publications),
- the mutual participation in (national) scientific events,
- holding lectures (e. g. on technology risk assessment, on the philosophy and
ethics of science and technology, on sustainability and socio-scientific
environmental questions),
- the organisation and preparation of translations (e. g. into German, Polish,
Russian, Slovak, Czech),
- the preparation of stays of guest lecturers (in Germany, Poland, the Slovak
and Czech Republic),
- signing cooperation agreements (with institutions in Poland, Russia, Hungary
and the Slovak Republic),
- the (joint) supervision of doctoral candidates
not only diverse results were produced, but important contributions were also
made to mutual understanding (personally and regarding content). The following
results are given as examples:
- joint planning and organisation of about twenty scientific events (in Banská
Bystrica/SK, Budapest/H, Cottbus/D, Katowice/PL, Potsdam/D, Prague/ÈR,
St. Petersburg/RUS, Tychy/PL, Ustrón/PL);
- participation in about thirty scientific events (among others in Bratislava/SK,
Dubna/RUS, Ekaterienenburg/RUS, Iulia Alba/RO, Moscow/RUS, Poznañ/
PL, Prague/ÈR, Rostow on Don/RUS, Wis³a/PL);
- holding approximately 300 hours of lectures or speeches (in all countries
mentioned above);
- fifteen jointly published anthologies (especially “conference proceedings” in
German, English, Polish and/or Slovak language), about 50 articles in publications
of the cooperation partners in German, English, Polish, Russian,
Slovak and Czech language as well as numerous contributions by foreign
colleagues in German publications (among others in the “TA-Datenbank-
Nachrichten/Technikfolgenabschätzung. Theorie und Praxis”);
- cooperation in scientific councils as well as in selection, evaluation, doctorate
and appointment commissions.
An important result of this systematic and long-standing cooperation is that new
institutionalised forms, going beyond close partnerships, were looked for and
established . Only three of them, in the founding and content planning of which
ITAS was involved, shall be mentioned here:
-
International Network of Cultural Diversity and New Media (CULTMEDIA)
The aim of the network founded in Prague in September 2002 (with “nodal
points” in Germany, Poland, Russia, Hungary, Spain, the Slovak and Czech
Republic) is the further analysis of the changes of cultural practices (e. g.
utilisation patterns, utilisation motivation and utilisation situations) which
are connected with the application of the so-called “new media”, especially
the Internet. In the last years, research on Internet-based communication
has developed as quickly as the Internet itself. The relevance of this relatively
new research area also results from the great importance which is
attached to the Internet for several important social trends (such as globalisation).
The change arising from these trends is often assessed as a comprehensive
cultural change with consequences for all spheres of life in modern
societies. Due to its interdisciplinary structure, the network focuses in its
work on the philosophical and cultural-scientific, the psychological and
socio-scientific as well as the communication and information technological
levels. The main focus of the investigation is always the question how the
opportunities and impacts of the Internet regarding new forms of information,
communication and cooperation are to be assessed in the field of the
“culture of everyday life”.
-
International Centre for Sustainability and Information Society at the Silesian
University (CRI), Katowice
The CRI – founded in 2004 in collaboration with the Fraunhofer-Anwendungszentrum
für Logistiksystemplanung und Informationssysteme Cottbus
– wants to make its contribution in the general debate on “sustainability”
and “information society”. With an integral and multidisciplinary
claim, the status of implementation of the two central European “regulatory
ideas” in a central region of Poland should be recorded on the one hand,
and – even more importantly – sustainability and the information society in
this region should be influenced and promoted by means of knowledge
transfer/utilisation, impartment of knowledge and generation of knowledge.
CRI’s aim is to make its own contribution to the formation of the sustainable
information society in Silesia and – in addition to that – to transfer the
experience gained to other regions in Poland (and Europe). In order to
achieve this aim the CRI is to apply international – especially German –
experience and to utilise the international scientific potential in an interdisciplinary
manner. With the implementation of these aims a contribution is
also to be made to the formation of the European sustainable information
society.
-
International Research Centre for Social Consequences of Scientific and
Technological Development and Innovation at the Lomonossov University,
Moscow
The centre, which was founded in 2006, has two main tasks: first, the
organisation of a postgraduate degree course, which will deal with questions
of the history of science and technology, the sociology of science and
technology as well as innovation research within the framework of an interfacultative
training and research programme and, second, the organisation
of internationally oriented research projects in the fields of technology risk
assessment, risk and innovation research and knowledge research.
These activities faced (and partly still do) the following difficulty: political power
constellations are changing as the basic economic conditions do, potentials of
science were reorganised or newly organised just as the administrative bodies
on state and regional level. Thus, both political aims and priorities and opportunities
for social interference and action changed as well (occasionally very
quickly). Consequently, there was often a lack of time and continuity required
for consolidation and differentiation processes. Therefore, it was and is often
difficult to emphasise existing or general facts. For this reason, the results and
the continuity of cooperation are to be valued even more highly. However, one aspect becomes clear: with the transformation processes of the last fifteen years
in these countries the opportunities in the field of interdisciplinary technology
and environmental studies have improved on the one hand, but, on the other hand,
they have also deteriorated at the same time: improved, since there is a stronger
scientific recognition, social need and political desire for such investigations as
a means of policy advice and decision preparation than before; deteriorated,
since in the individual countries both the overall industrial and financial conditions
and the situation on the labour market are generally more unfavourable
and thus the funds for considerations preparing and accompanying mechanisation
projects in the interest of policy advice and social decision preparation are
(probably) very limited. The necessity for interdisciplinary technology, innovation
and environmental studies in these countries is also due to the following
“boundary conditions”:
-
there are enormous ecological and economic technology-induced problems
and burdens from the contaminated sites resulting from technology utilisation
in the fields of energy generation, chemical industry, agriculture as
well as transport;
-
there are a number of decisions to be made regarding technical solutions,
which can modify, supplement or substitute currently used technologies or
on new solutions to be developed and utilised;
-
there is a need for overview and orientation knowledge as a basis for technology
decisions in politics, economy and science (especially against the
background of the restructuring of the whole industrial basis);
-
it is necessary to sensitise the general public regarding the consequences of
technical developments and their utilisation (also against the background of
previously refused opportunities of participation and discussion).
The contributions summarised in this book refer to different aspects of this
situation, partly giving detailed descriptions and mainly offering suggestions
for solutions. They are primarily “insiders”, who, if they are not actors, are at
least observers, but who are definitely “concerned” by the transformation processes
taking place. These contributions are mainly to be understood as “case
studies” for the collection, systematisation and tentative generalisation of
material which serves as basis for the proposals to be developed. According to
content, they were divided into “Technology Assessment and Sustainability”
(Part I) and “Innovation and Economic Transformation” (Part II). The book
begins with a contribution on the importance of scientific knowledge in and for
the modern age. In the texts it becomes obvious that in the individual countries
own ways have to be developed, independent solutions have to be found and own experience must be gained. At the same time this indicates the limits of the
transformability of knowledge generated elsewhere – i.e. under different economic,
political, social and cultural conditions – or – in other words – it indicates
the relationship of general approaches and concrete, specific national
conditions.
The publisher would like to first of all thank the authors who were willing
to supply and update the texts, to Gotthard Bechmann, who helped acquire contributions,
to Sylke Wintzer, who proofread them, to Waltraud Laier, who prepared
the layout in proven manner, and to the publishing house edition sigma
(in particular its head Rainer Bohn) for the patience regarding the submittal
deadline for the script, which was more than due …
Berlin, December 2006
Gerhard Banse