Cross-cutting activity “Knowledge transfer”

The mutual exchange of knowledge between research, politics, and society is a central task of technology assessment (TA). Researcher should make debates more objective and draw attention to the challenges and opportunities of scientific developments.

On the one hand, the aim is to strengthen the scientific maturity of citizens and to enable them – or their political representatives – to make decisions on the basis of the best available scientific evidences. On the other hand, it is about responsibly shaping technological innovation by considering the knowledge and experience of the people involved.

We are convinced that technology assessment requires the most diverse perspectives available. For a long time, we have therefore involved in our studies not only researchers from various disciplines, but also citizens and stakeholders from civil society, politics, and the economy. ITAS researchers develop specific integrative research approaches as well as methods for participatory formats and apply them in a variety of thematic contexts. The results, in turn, find their way into policy and societal advice and the scientific discourse.

ITAS activities in the field of knowledge transfer range from real-world lab research to topic-specific citizens’ dialogues and policy advice at national and European level to citizen science projects, formats of scientific communication, and the institute’s own forms of publication.

Citizens’ dialogues:

Policy advice:

Scientific communication and publication activities:

Contact

Constanze Scherz, Dipl.-Soz.
Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT)
Institute for Technology Assessment and Systems Analysis (ITAS)
P.O. Box 3640
76021 Karlsruhe
Germany

Tel.: +49 721 608-26814
E-mail