Since the 1980s, Rip has been instrumental in developing and applying an approach to broaden the scope of participants and considerations that go into technological developments-an approach known as Constructive Technology Assessment (CTA). A number of organizations have employed CTA, including the Rathenau Institute (formerly, the Netherlands Office of Technology Assessment). Since 2005, the Dutch national nanotechnology consortium, NanoNed, has included CTA as a program component under Rip's coordination. In this chapter, Rip and te Kulve suggest that because many nanotechnology applications remain little more than promises, studying their implications amounts to an exercise in "social science fiction." In light of this challenge, they develop socio-technical scenarios. Scenarios are a wellestablished foresight method that are gaining wide use in the study of nanotechnology (Türk, ch. 8; Kosal, ch. 13). Here, Rip and te Kulve identify complex and overlooked interactions that can be used to make scenarios more conceptually robust and pragmatically effective. In their description of two scenario construction frameworks, they offer a link between theory and practice. They suggest that CTA scenarios can serve as "useful fictions" for strategic purposes (Bünger, ch. 5) as well as for modulating ongoing socio-technical change. -Eds.
Newly emerging science and technologies (NEST) are shaped by dynamics of promises. There is a paradoxical effect: diffuse and open-ended promises are forceful in policy discourse, but may hinder the realisation of these promises. Innovation actors are reluctant to invest in concrete developments because the promises are open-ended, and eventual demand is not articulated. This is a structural issue, and leads to 'waiting games' in which actors are entangled. We show how the occurrence of waiting games is linked to dual dynamics of promises in two fields where nanotechnology offers an open-ended ('umbrella') promise: organic and large area electronics and nano-enabled drug delivery. Based on such understanding of dynamics, our scenario exercises explored strategies to overcome waiting games.
In new and emerging science and technology, such as nanoscience and nanotechnologies, newspaper coverage is important in a number of ways. 1 Newspapers can act as a 'catalyst' when reporting on controversial issues, exacerbating the degrees of opposition between actors. However, newspapers may also have a mediating function through the creation of an arena in which proponents and opponents can interact (Rip, 1986). Proponents of the development of new technologies are often concerned about the ways in which new science and technology are represented in the media-and by the results of negative perceptions. Typically, the concern is that print and audio-visual media have the power to form public perceptions. This concern is often overstated. For example, Nisbet and Huge (2006) suggest that in media debates about the regulation of plant biotechnology other national news received more media attention. They argue that in the end, media coverage of plant biotechnology had little effect on public concern.Still, newspaper coverage does frame issues and contributes to agenda building (Nisbet et al., 2003). In this view, recipients of newspaper coverage are not considered to be merely passive, but actively take up issues covered by media. This supports Swidler's (1986, p. 273) concept of 'repertoires' which views culture as providing actors with a '"tool kit" of symbols, stories, rituals, and world-views' from which they can select different elements to shape their action and solve problems. In this perspective, newspaper coverage can be viewed as an expression of a 'newspaper repertoire' which can be used by actors to engage in public dialogues on new and emerging science and technology.There is no simple one-to-one relation between the presentation of media coverage and subsequent effects on public attitudes (Ten Eyck, 2005). However, such coverage is still important because newspapers are publicly available and enable readers to become aware of new scientific and technological developments and, more specifically, engage in dialogues about nanotechnology. Especially when most people have little experience of a new technology, media coverage can provide heuristics for understanding and assessment (Scheufele and Lewenstein, 2005). Because of this wider relevance, newspaper coverage of nanotechnology is an important domain to study, not only as a potential catalyst and
Engagement with stakeholders and civil society is increasingly important for new scientific and technological developments. Preparation of such engagements sets the stage for engagement activities and thus contributes to their outcomes. Preparation is a demanding task, particularly if the facilitating agent aims for timely engagement related to emerging technologies. Requirements for such preparation include understanding of the emerging science & technology and its dynamics. Multi-level analysis and socio-technical scenarios are two complementary tools for constructing productive engagement. Examination of the emergence of nanotechnologies in the food packaging sector demonstrates how these tools work. In light of recent policy demands for responsible innovation, but also more generally, the role of organizers of engagement activities is one that deserves reflection insofar as it can extend beyond that of preparation and facilitation.
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