Comparative Table of Parliamentary TA Institutions
SWITZERLAND - SWISS FOUNDATION FOR TECHNOLOGY ASSESMENT
Organisation
TA-SWISS looks back onto an
eventful history –
and has been able to celebrate its 20th anniversary
on October 29,
2012. During these 20 years, it has always been of utmost
importance for
TA to be performed independently of political and economic interests.
This is
still the highest premise today. State funding allows for the basic
financing
of TA-SWISS. Additionally, there is third-party funding by independent
organisations.
In this way, the infrastructure and the personnel of the TA-SWISS
office
comprising five fulltime jobs is financed. Additionally,
project-specific
mandates that are assigned to external interdisciplinary research
groups and
the organisation and execution of participative projects are
remunerated by these
means.
TA-SWISS acts jointly with
renowned national or
international research institutes or specialized departments. The
assignment of
a project to a research group works as follows: The specific TA aspects
are clearly
stated in the call for tender regarding the specific project;
correspondingly,
the received offers are evaluated according to these criteria. The
TA-SWISS
executive committee (TA-SWISS-Leitungsausschuss, LA), composed of
roughly 15
members with totally different professional competences and
institutional
backgrounds, decides whether a project will be carried out as well as
which
offer to accept in the case of a study. A project manager of the
TA-SWISS
office then initializes the project and supervises the commissioned
institution
throughout the whole duration of the project. The final focus of each
project
always emerges through the cooperative work of and the intensive debate
with
all participants. Not only the research group entrusted with the
project, but also
the TA-SWISS office and the monitoring group provide important inputs.
The latter,
consisting of 10 to 20 persons with appropriate professional
competences, is
formed specifically for each project. It reviews the concept, the
intermediate
as well as the final results and thus ensures quality and a
well-balanced
presentation of the subject.
Chapter Organisation - all countries
Country Report Switzerland
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 © EPTA, version 20 Jan 2017; provided by ITA |