On 13 September 2012, the Applied Research and Communications Fund hosted a second national working meeting held within the project “Parliaments and Civil Society in Technology Assessment” (PACITA), supported under the Seventh Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development. The event, titled “Technology Assessment and Public Policies in Bulgaria: Goals, Stakeholders, Added Value, and Impact” aimed to providе further insights into how technology assessment functions and affects public policies (through giving examples from countries with long experience in TA), as well as to outline the prospects to institutionalize TA in Bulgaria. Moreover, the participants, among which were representatives of the government, civil society and academia, reflected on what might be the most appropriate form of initiating TA in the country. In order to allow for the better understanding of all participants, including the ones that were not able to participate in the first national meeting, the speakers gave a brief introduction to the PACITA project and the concept of technology assessment.
The keynote speakers of the event were Ms. Zoya Damianova, Programme Director at ARC Fund, Mr. Ventseslav Kozarev, Project Officer at the organization, as well as two distinguished international experts with rich experience in (parliamentary) technology assessment – Dr. Geert Munich from the Rathenau Institute in the Netherlands and Dr. Walter Peissl from the Institute of Technology Assessment in Austria. The experts elaborated on contemporary technology assessment methods in public policy design and development, and presented examples of technology assessment projects on the EU and the national level.
The discussion after the presentations was structured around a few main points, among which the added value of TA in policy-making, feasible structures of inter-organizational cooperation for TA, additional opportunities for capacity building through the PACITA project, and potential thematic areas for applying TA in the country. There was a shared agreement among the participants that there is a need for such an organization in Bulgaria. Dr. Peissl from ITA, Austria, encouraged the participants that despite some factors which might negatively affect the process of establishing a full-fledged TA-body in Bulgaria, there is no single way to implement TA in a country and Bulgaria has to be patient and to find its own way, which will best suit its political and social context.
In the years to come, the Applied Research and Communications Fund will continue its efforts for promoting broader and informed public debate with as wide a range of stakeholders as possible, including the government, parliament, local authorities, civil society, experts, academia, analysts, and citizens. We believe that the broad public consensus and mutual trust between institutions is fundamental for a well-functioning process of implementation of technology assessment as part of the planning of public policies.
To learn more about the project, or about parliamentary technology assessment, please visit the project’s website at www.pacitaproject.eu.
Presentations from the meeting can be found here:
Dr. Geert Munich, Rathenau Institute, the Netherlands (in English)
Dr. Walter Peissl, Institute of Technology Assessment, Austria (in English)
Ventseslav Kozarev, Applied Research and Communications Fund (in Bulgarian)
