| Prerequisites and Opportunities for Establishing a Parliamentary Technology Assessment System in Lithuania |
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This study analyses the state of the infrastructure of parliamentary technology assessment and its potential development prospects in Lithuania, drawing on the experience of members of the European Parliamentary Technology Assessment (EPTA) network.
In Lithuania, the emerging parliamentary technology assessment infrastructure consists largely of initiatives of the Seimas Committee for the Future, an associate member of EPTA since 2021. These include the establishment of a Working Group on Artificial Intelligence in 2023 and the analytical work on technology assessment carried out since 2021 by the Research Unit of the Information and Communication Department of the Office of the Seimas.
According to the Institute of Technology Assessment (ITA, Austria), Lithuania lacks institutional support for a systematic approach to technology assessment and shows insufficient meaningful involvement of, and effective interinstitutional cooperation between, research organisations, business and NGOs. Technology assessment activities remain dominated by ad hoc projects, rather than being guided by a long-term and coherent strategy.
Based on ITA research and PACITA project findings, the study examines the institutional models of parliamentary technology assessment used by EPTA members that could support the development of a counterpart institutional model in the Seimas. Key organisational aspects of parliamentary technology assessment, according to the study, include:
• the role of Members of Parliament in the technology assessment process (as commissioning bodies or as analysts);
• the institutional set-up (within Parliament or external to it);
• the responsibility for the implementation of technology assessment projects (a parliamentary committee or another structural unit is put in charge);
• the recipients of technology assessment services (the Parliament, society, the Government, the research community);
• funding mechanisms; and
• legal status.
Based on the experience of EPTA members, the study recommends the following steps to establish a coherent technology assessment system:
(a) establishing and coordinating a network of external experts, including research institutions, government analytical bodies, individual researchers and international partners;
(b) establishing a group within Parliament tasked with scientific coordination;
(c) developing an annual parliamentary technology assessment work programme; and
(d) introducing a flexible funding system for technology assessment projects.
Consideration should also be given to involving research fellows or providing traineeship scholarships based on the Kurk Lietuvai (Create Lithuania) programme or the traineeship and fellowship modelled on the UK Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology (POST), as well as to developing active networking with other EPTA members.
In view of Lithuania’s institutional capacities, the study formulates specific guidelines for the introduction of a parliamentary technology assessment system. The study recommends a hybrid external institution model (drawing on the examples of Switzerland and Norway), involving the establishment of a small technology assessment office within a research institution (for example, the Research Council of Lithuania or the Lithuanian Academy of Sciences) mandated to provide technology assessment support to the Seimas. The study emphasises the need to ensure strict scientific independence, transparent management of conflicts of interest, targeted funding through a dedicated budget, and formal integration of analytical findings into the legislative processes of Seimas committees.
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