Comparative Table of Parliamentary TA Institutions

Communication and Publications

CATALONIA - THE ADVISORY BOARD OF THE PARLIAMENT OF CATALONIA FOR SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

As mentioned, its reports are not published; rather, they are distributed, unless the scientific and technical institution that prepared them undertakes the task of publishing them. Along these lines, the Catalan Foundation for Research and Innovation published its report on nanotechnology which can be viewed at the following link: www.fcri.es/descarregues/2009_8_7_informe_nanotech_cata_la.pdf

DENMARK - THE DANISH BOARD OF TECHNOLOGY

DBT communicates and co-operates directly with the relevant parliamentary committees who seek advice on examining a specific subject. This advice can consist of answering specific questions from members of parliament, making information meetings for committees, arranging hearings for parliamentary committees, or providing an issue of the briefing note "From the Board to the Parliament". DBT issues a range of publications with a view to stimulating debate on technology among them reports, books, newsletters, booklets and pamphlets. The e-magazine TeknologiDebat contains news stories, background information, articles and debates, all primarily related to the projects of DBT. The website www.tekno.dk is a very important communication tool for DBT. It has around 1 million visits a year and some publications are downloaded at figures exceeding 250.000. The website delivers all publications of DBT, pages on all projects, podcasts from conferences, hearings, workshops etc., and a web-version of the eMagazine TeknologiDebat.

EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT - SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY OPTIONS ASSESSMENT

For each project, STOA produces several reports: In addition, STOA also produces reports following its events and an Annual Report highlighting the achievements in the preceding year. Interested parties can subscribe to our newsletter by sending us an e-mail to stoa@europarl.europa.eu.

STOA is increasingly relying on new media for reaching its target groups. It regularly publishes blog posts announcing its events and reporting on news, projects and workshops. Video clips presenting outcomes of the projects are produced and uploaded on STOA's YouTube channel, summarising the work of STOA in an easily accessible way. Our events are regularly supported by live tweeting, enabling the dissemination to and the dialogue with the wider community.

Follow STOA via:
STOA website: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/stoa/
EPRS blog: http://epthinktank.eu/stoablogger
EPRS Twitter: https://twitter.com/ep_thinktank
EPRS LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/5184534?trk=hp-feed-company-name
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/MySTOA

FINLAND - THE COMMITTEE FOR THE FUTURE

See before. All reports are published in Internet and most of them also as books, especially those which are handled in the plenary session. Social media will be used in a totally new way during this period.

FLANDERS - INSTITUTE SOCIETY AND TECHNOLOGY

Over the years, the IST has developed various communication products, including an electronic newsletter (e-zine), custom made publications (reports, dossiers, recommendations and facts in a nutshell), and the web site: www.samenlevingentechnologie.be

FRANCE - OFFICE PARLEMENTAIRE D´EVALUATION DES CHOIX SCIENTIFIQUES ET TECHNOLOGIQUES

OPECST reports are published. A summary of 4 pages is usually also available. All its publications and the videos of its public hearings are posted on the National Assembly web site, section OPECST.

GERMANY - OFFICE OF TECHNOLOGY ASSESSMENT AT THE GERMAN BUNDESTAG 

The results of the TA projects and other TAB work are documented and made available as TAB working reports and background and discussion papers. Selected reports are issued as printed papers of German Bundestagt (Bundestagsdrucksache). Since 1996, selected final reports on TA projects have appeared in the series "Studies by the Office of Technology Assessment at German Bundestag", published by edition sigma, Berlin. TAB and its current information are also accessible on the Internet (www.tab-beim-bundestag.de) and on the German Bundestag intranet. The TAB letter appears twice a year, and contains primarily information on the TAB working programme and reports on the findings of TAB projects and monitoring activities.

GREECE - GREEK PERMANENT COMMITTEE OF TECHNOLOGY ASSESSMENT 

Every report and its outcomes together with the relevant supporting documents are kept in the archives of the committee and deposited at the end of each parliamentary year in the Archives of the Parliament. Those documents are available to the public through the website of the Hellenic Parliament (only in Greek).

THE NETHERLANDS - RATHENAU INSTITUTE

The Rathenau Instituut publishes scientific reports, background studies and Research Briefs to provide politicians and policymakers with reliable, relevant and up to date information. For a quick overview, we gather experts’ visions around a topical theme in collections of essays. In our twopage Research Briefs, we provide tailor-made analyses and policy recommendations.

The institute uses a wide range of interactive communications tools to disseminate its findings, such as expert meetings, public debates, talk shows, events and forum discussions to promote interaction with citizens, policymakers, politicians and other parties. The aim here is the exchange of thoughts or to initiation of a debate to get the images, visions and standpoints of participants out into the open.

NORWAY - THE NORWEGIAN BOARD OF TECHNOLOGY 

The Board focuses strongly on disseminating its projects and results. Most projects are concluded with a proposal to the Parliament. The NBT’s 4-page publication summarizes the project and gives clear recommendations on the subject. We also meet with the relevant standing committee and present the project and its results.

The Board publishes reports on most projects. All publications are free and available for download on our webpage. We communicate broadly in several channels. In addition to reports and other printed material we actively use internet as a communication channel. Information on all projects is presented on our website, and we use different social media such as Facebook, Twitter, Vimeo and Slideshare. We have also made several exhibitions. The latest, "The Future of Ageing", has travel around Norway since 2009.

As partner in the project "Kunnskap kryssar grenser" ("Knowledge across borders"), all our open meetings and seminars are broadcast online. This ensures both lower emissions (people don’t have to travel to Oslo to participate) and that people all over the country (and the world) can see the presentations of our projects.

SWEDEN - THE PARLIAMENTARY EVALUATION AND RESEARCH UNIT 

The reports are published in the Riksdag Report Series and can be downloaded from the website (www.riksdagen.se). Short versions with conclusions of the larger reports are compiled in Swedish and English. A website has been published on the Riksdag intranet summarising the work on research and future issues. The website will also shortly be available on the official Riksdag website www.riksdagen.se.

SWITZERLAND - CENTRE FOR TECHNOLOGY ASSESMENT 

All results are communicated to the parliament, the media and the general public by means of a newsletter, of conferences, public talks, articles or exhibits. In depth information on projects and publications is also available on the internet (www.ta-swiss.ch). Studies and publications, especially the abbreviated versions, are obtainable at no charge at info@ta-swiss.ch.

The studies on biofuel of the second generation, on nanotechnology in the field of foods, on anti-aging, the emancipation of the computer and geolocalization are available at your local book store. You can also order them at www.vdf.ethz.ch or download them as an e-book.

UNITED KINGDOM - THE PARLIAMENTARY OFFICE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY 

Most of POST’s publications take the form of one of its well-known four-page "POSTnotes". After considerable experimentation, this format was chosen largely because busy parliamentarians do not have the time to read lengthier documents. A great deal of effort is put into compressing information into this limit, and in meeting the challenge of making a publication at the same time accessible to non-specialists but commanding the approval of experts in the field. Several other parliamentary TA units have adopted a similar style of summary as part of their publication programme – and POSTnotes have even been translated by them for circulation in their own countries.

POST also produces longer reports. The most recently published was on "Living with Environmental Limits", while an ongoing longer report is a "Decadal Review of Stem Cell Research", examining developments in the area over the past ten years, as recommended by a special House of Lords committee that reviewed regulatory legislation. Even with these long reports, one or more "POSTnote" style summaries is produced to make the key findings accessible to those who cannot examine the main report.

All POST publications are subjected to extensive external peer review by government departmental, academic, enterprise and NGO specialists before release. This is a key feature of POST’s publication process.

Either at the start of a study, during its course, or after publication, POST frequently organises parliamentary seminars to discuss its studies. These are complemented by other conferences and workshops. Recent examples include sessions on the Future of Food and Farming and on the Implications of the Fukushima Dai-ichi Incident. Both filled some of the largest meeting rooms in the UK Parliament to capacity.

POST also collaborates with external organisations to hold interactive exhibitions and presentations at the UK Parliament. Notable recent events have covered the future of energy research; robotics futures and polar research.

POST was a founding member of EPTA and has always enthusiastically participated in its activities. POST has been honoured to be approached by countries such as Chile, Japan, Norway and Sweden that were considering creating a parliamentary TA function. POST has also worked closely with the Science Policy Division of UNESCO in its work programme on Science, Technology and Parliaments.

AUSTRIA - THE INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY ASSESSMENT 

All ITA research reports are available free of charge via the Internet. In addition, the Institute has published a quarterly newsletter for over 10 years, which is received by several hundred subscribers in Austria and abroad. With active PR work it is attained that the Institute and its topics and projects are continuously present in Austria quality media (press and radio). In addition, the ITA organises regular conferences and lecture events, and is active on the Internet. The latter includes not only the Institute´s homepage with extensive information and download material but also the use of new communication forms such as microblogging (Twitter), a presence on Web 2.0 platforms (Facebook, Academia.edu) and in encyclopaedias developed by the online community (Wikipedia).

COUNCIL OF EUROPE - THE PARLIAMENTARY ASSEMBLY OF THE COUNCIL OF EUROPE 

The Assembly´s website [http://assembly.coe.int] gives regular information on the activities of parliamentarians, in Strasbourg and on the ground. It includes reports, adopted texts, records of debates and speeches. The plenary sessions are broadcast live.

POLAND - BUREAU OF RESEARCH 

BAS does not publish its TA work in a separate series, TA analyses are usually included within general BAS publication lines, the main are: INFOS (short policy briefs) and STUDIA BAS (compilations of research papers analyzing various aspects of a given topic).

INFOS is a final outcome of a short term project lasting on average 1 to 3 months. They are concise in form and present a single topic related to issues of high relevance to parliamentary debate and/or legislative process. All INFOS papers have standard layout and stick to four-page format. They are published every two weeks, in accordance with the schedule of sittings of the Sejm (20-25 titles/issues a year).

The projects undertaken within STUDIA BAS series are more complex. They involve compiling a book consisting typically of 8-10 research papers devoted to various aspects of a given subject. They are often devoted to sectoral policies (e.g. energy policy, housing policy) or thematic clusters (eg. development of information society). Quite often they adopt comparative approach: comparing relevant data from different European and other countries. There are four issues yearly.

INFOS and STUDIA BAS series are devoted primarily to socio-economic issues, hence TA questions - if they are touched upon - are mostly analyzed in the context of societal and economic impacts. The authors are both BAS employees and selected external experts from leading Polish research institutions.

BAS publications come only in Polish (abstracts are available also in English). INFOS and STUDIA BAS are distributed free of charge to all MPs; additional copies can be picked-up at the BAS inquiry office at the Parliament premises. They are also available online at www.bas.sejm.gov.pl

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA - GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY OFFICE 

Technology assessments conducted by GAO to date have resulted in written products (www.gao.gov/browse/collection/Technology_Assessment). These reports may also contain online-only multimedia components, such as videos/animations or podcasts (for example, the interactive features and additional materials at www.gao.gov/products/GAO-11-71). GAO may also prepare other products, such as congressional testimony, upon request from the U.S. Congress.

EPTA ITA
(c) EPTA, provided by ITA; version 01/2017