The Network for Technology Assessment

The Network for Technology Assessment

Founded in November 2004, the NTA now has around 40 institutional members from Germany, Austria and Switzerland, as well as around 250 individual members. The aim of the TA Network is to promote cooperation among TA researchers and those interested in TA, and to raise awareness of TA in science, politics, business and the public sphere. The NTA's founding declaration states:

?The ?TA Network? is an association of scientists, experts and practitioners in the broadly defined field of TA (technology assessment). [...] The members of the network represent the various forms of TA and cover the broad spectrum between theory and practice, between research and consulting, and between the various scientific disciplines.?

(From the founding declaration of the TA network on 24 November 2004 in Berlin)

Activities

Since 2004, the network has held a scientific conference (?NTA1? ... ?NTA8? etc.) every two years, as well as an annual members' meeting.

In addition, workshops are held by working groups of the NTA or in cooperation with the NTA.

A public e-mail list with around 500 participants allows information to be exchanged on the latest developments in the TA scene and provides a forum for discussion.

The specialist portal openTA replaces the old NTA website. openTA aims to aggregate the decentralised information resources of the NTA member institutions into individual services and to make these services available both on the portal and decentrally for selective and configurable use.

The NTA coordination team

The NTA coordination team advises on and decides about the activities of the NTA. It essentially has a stimulating and supportive function. It is the point of contact for the NTA both internally and externally.

The members of the coordination team are:

1. Michael Decker (Deutsches Museum, Munich; formerly KIT, Karlsruhe)
2. Elisabeth Ehrensperger (TA-SWISS, Bern)
3. Nils Heyen (FhG-ISI, Karlsruhe)
4. Bert Droste-Franke (IQIB GmbH, Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler)
5. Mahshid Sotoudeh, Niklas Gudowsky-Blatak?s (ITA, Vienna)
6. Birgit Weimert (FhG-INT, Euskirchen)
7. Reinhard Heil (KIT-ITAS, Karlsruhe)

The spokesperson for the coordination team is Prof. Dr. Michael Decker from the Deutsches Museum.