Vision Assessment: Shaping Technology in 21st Century Society

Vision Assessment: Shaping Technology in 21st Century Society PDF

Author: John Grin

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2012-12-06

Total Pages: 194

ISBN-13: 3642597025

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One way to shape technology and its embedding in society in the 21st century is through the visions that guide their development, especially concerning the long-term societal perspective. A critical discussion and assessment of these visions is a prerequisite for influencing the course of development. Technology assessment, therefore, has to provide a methodological repertoire for assessing and constructing visions, taking into account the requirements for long-term orientation as well as the need for public legitimation. This volume draws upon insights from technology assessment, political sciences, epistemology, sociology and ethics. It is to contribute to the recent literature in on "shaping technology", taking into account the "co-evolution of technology and society". It connects to that technology assessment literature that emphasises TA's pro-active role and its contribution to political judgement.

Transitions to Sustainable Development

Transitions to Sustainable Development PDF

Author: John Grin

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2010-05-26

Total Pages: 418

ISBN-13: 1135151180

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There has been a growing concern about the social and environmental risks which have come along with the progress achieved through a variety of mutually intertwined modernization processes. This book addresses how to understand the dynamics and governance of long term transformative change towards sustainable development.

Managing the Transition to Renewable Energy

Managing the Transition to Renewable Energy PDF

Author: Jeroen C. J. M. van den Bergh

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

Published: 2008-03-31

Total Pages: 408

ISBN-13: 9781782542940

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This edited work studies the transition to renewable energy. It offers perspectives from a wide range of disciplines, addressing macro, regional and local scales. Important lessons are also drawn from historical transitions.

Ethical Assessments of Emerging Technologies

Ethical Assessments of Emerging Technologies PDF

Author: Federica Lucivero

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2015-11-13

Total Pages: 202

ISBN-13: 3319232827

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This book systematically addresses the issue of assessing the normative nature of visions of emerging technologies in an epistemologically robust way. In the context of democratic governance of emerging technologies, not only it is important to reflect on technologies’ moral significance, but also to address their emerging and future oriented character. The book proposes an original approach to deal with the issue of “plausible” ethical evaluation of new technologies. Taking its start from current debates about Technology Assessment, the proposed solution emerges as a combination of theoretical and methodological insights from the fields of Philosophy of Technology, Science and Technology Studies and a normative justification based on pragmatist ethics. The book’s main contribution is to engage a diverse and interdisciplinary audience (ethicists, philosophers, social scientists, technology assessment researchers and practitioners) in a reflection concerning the epistemological challenges that are associated to the endeavour of appraising the moral significance of emerging technologies in the attempt of democratically governing them. It brings together concepts and methodologies from different disciplines and shows their synergy in applying them to two specific case studies of emerging biomedical technologies.

Socio-Technical Futures Shaping the Present

Socio-Technical Futures Shaping the Present PDF

Author: Andreas Lösch

Publisher: Springer Nature

Published: 2019-11-11

Total Pages: 308

ISBN-13: 3658271558

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​The exploration of ways to conceptualize the shaping of the present by socio‐technical futures is the aim of this volume. Therefore it brings together contributions from Science and Technology Studies and Technology Assessment, which focus all on the question how socio-technical images of the future shape present processes of innovation and transformation starting from empirical case studies and generalizing specific findings or by tackling conceptual questions from the outset. A white paper of 23 authors, which aims to sensitize researchers and practitioners completes the volume.

Backcasting for a Sustainable Future

Backcasting for a Sustainable Future PDF

Author: Jaco Quist

Publisher: Eburon Uitgeverij B.V.

Published: 2007

Total Pages: 286

ISBN-13: 9059721756

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Summary: "Backcasting: looking back from a desirable future. Since the 1990s sustainable futures have been explored in backcasting experiments, numerous stakeholders have been involved and first steps have been planned in line with the envisioned sustainable futures. But what is the impact of these so-called backcasting experiments ten years later? Backcasting for a Sustainable Future: The impact after 10 years is the first book that systematically investigates the follow-up and spin-off of backcasting experiments seven to ten years after completion. It presents three case studies about (1) Novel Protein Foods and meat alternatives; (2) Sustainable Households and Nutrition; and (3) Multiple Sustainable Land-use in rural areas. The cases show that participatory backcasting may, but does not automatically lead to substantial follow-up and spinoff. Using innovation and learning theories the factors that affect the emergence of follow-up and new networks are identified and discussed. This book will be of great value to all those who work on sustainable futures and system innovations, such as researchers in system innovations, sustainability and social change, as well as policy-makers, transition experts and backcasting professionals."--Publisher description.

Toward Sustainable Transitions in Healthcare Systems

Toward Sustainable Transitions in Healthcare Systems PDF

Author: Jacqueline Broerse

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 2017-03-16

Total Pages: 349

ISBN-13: 1351867156

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Health systems have long been considered key determinants of well-being within modern societies, a valuable resource which have faced a series of reform initiatives throughout the past decades. These reforms have been used to manage the cost of development, measure the tenability of health systems in globalizing economies and promote the increasing importance of health problems related to lifestyle and living conditions, yet they have failed to provide a true resolution to the persistent economical and logistical problems facing modern-day health systems. This rich, interdisciplinary work explores the hypothesis that many of these problems cannot be adequately addressed without structural changes to our health systems, and examines the embedded features of our health systems that underlie contemporary challenges as well as how, and under what conditions, our health systems can be made more sustainable. Combining and building upon theoretical approaches from transition and innovation studies for analysing health system deficits, Toward Sustainable Transitions in Healthcare Systems raises fundamental questions about how new research, new needs and exogenous trends are transforming current health innovation systems. Providing an original and substantial analysis of the complex structural features of the health innovation system, this book will be of interest to students and practitioners of the politics of health, social epidemiology, medical sociology and those with an interest in transition theory.

Responsible Innovation 1

Responsible Innovation 1 PDF

Author: Jeroen van den Hoven

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2014-07-03

Total Pages: 407

ISBN-13: 9401789568

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This book addresses the methodological issues involved in responsible innovation and provides an overview of recent applications of multidisciplinary research. Responsible innovation involves research into the ethical and societal aspects of new technologies (e.g. ICT, nanotechnology, biotechnology and brain sciences) and of changes in technological systems (e.g. energy, transport, agriculture and water). This research is highly multidisciplinary. It involves close collaboration between researchers in such diverse fields as ethics, social science, law, economics, applied science, engineering - as well as innovative, design-oriented and policy-relevant. Although there is a trend to engage ethicists and social scientists early in technology development, most literature in the field of Technology Assessment or Ethics of Technology is still aimed at one discipline whereas this book incorporates different approaches and to discuss experiences, lessons and more general theoretical issues.