Comparative Table of Parliamentary TA Institutions
DENMARK - THE DANISH BOARD OF TECHNOLOGY
Target Groups
The target groups are defined for each topic as part of the
methodological choice. Methods and communication means are chosen to
involve those actors who can make change. This often involves
Parliament as target group together with other important actors.
The expert communities may be target groups when the
topic involves new orientation of research and innovation, or if
research ethics (responsible research and innovation) may be of
importance. There may be a need for bridge-building between academic
communities, or it may be good to introduce self-reflexion among
scientists on the societal impact of their research. Often this may be
facilitated by involving the experts directly in the assessments,
thereby making the assessments and effectively communicating them at
the same time.
Stakeholders may be very important actors if change is going
to be induced. It may be that different stakeholders are blocking each
other, thereby inhibiting the necessary change. Or, stakeholders may
act on very different kinds of knowledge from which they define their
opposing positions. Mediation and knowledge sharing therefore may be
components in the involvement of stakeholders. Stakeholders are strong
communicators to policy-makers if they back up the assessments and
often they may even be able to induce change directly through their
strong networks.
Citizens can be important target groups for technology
assessment, but cannot be reached directly because of the limited
resources available. Therefore, citizens mainly can be reached through
the media, which makes the press an important primary target group.
Political decision-makers are most often a primary
target group because of the importance of legislation in many
technology fields, and because of the agenda-setting function of
Parliament. In a broader sense, political decision-makers (region,
municipalities) are important for administrative policy-making on
environment, health, education, infrastructure etc. Accordingly, DBT
considers all levels of political decision-making when selecting target
groups.
DBT separates between »need-to-know« and »nice-to-know« target groups.
The strategy for needs-to-know is to establish direct collaboration
(involvement) with the target groups around the assessment, since that
ensures the optimal communication situation. Nice-to-know target groups
are mostly reached through workshops, conferencing, publications,
newsletters and the press.