Berlin’s Approval of Advice for Politicians from Karlsruhe

Dr. Elisabeth Zuber-Knost
Press Officer

Kaiserstraße 12
76131 Karlsruhe, Germany
Phone: +49 721/608-2089
Fax: +49 721/608-3658

In its recent meeting, the Parliament Committee for Education, Research, and Technology Assessment unanimously decided to entrust the Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe with the management and operation of the “Office of Technology Assessment with the German Parliament” (TAB) for another period of five years (2008 to 2013). The TAB advises expert committees of the German parliament in matters related to scientific-technical and social change.

For details, please contact:
Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe
Public Relations and Marketing Department
Inge Arnold

Postfach 3640
76021 Karlsruhe, Germany
Phone: +49 7247 82-2861
Fax: +49 7247 82-5080
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”Together with our cooperation partners from the Karlsruhe Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research, we are very pleased to continue our advising services for politicians at the interfaces of technology and society”, says TAB director Professor Dr. Armin Grunwald, holder of the chair of Engineering Philosophy at the Universität Karlsruhe (TH) and Head of the Institute for Technology Assessment and Systems Analysis at the Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe. “This mandate that has now been renewed unanimously by members of all fractions underlines the high value the parliament attaches to our studies”, says Dr. Thomas Petermann, Deputy Director of the TAB.

The Office of Technology Assessment with the German Parliament advises the members of parliament. Its mission is to improve the bases of information of the members of parliament in particular as far as complex research- and technology-related matters are concerned. Since its foundation in 1990, the TAB has been run as an independent institution of the Institute for Technology Assessment and Systems Analysis. Advice is given by the office strictly in line with information needs of the federal parliament and its committees. Direct client is the Committee for Education, Research, and Technology Assessment. So far, the TAB has submitted to the German parliament more than 150 reports on technology assessment and the monitoring of relevant technical and social developments. In the recent past, major topics included electronic trade (2002), nanotechnology (2003), pre-implantation diagnostics (2004), green genetic engineering (2005), bionics (2006), and brain research (2007). Current projects are focusing among others on energy plants, e-learning, handicap-compensating technologies, and genetic doping in sports.

In the architecture of the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) that is currently being established, the work of the Institute for Technology Assessment and Systems Analysis and the Office of Technology Assessment with the German Parliament are allocated to the planned KIT focus of “Man and Technology”. This focus will bundle economic, humanistic, and social research related to innovation potentials, possibilities of use, chances, and risks of technical progress. This knowledge will be the basis of the KIT activities in the fields of natural sciences and engineering.

The Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) represents the merger of the Universität Karlsruhe with the Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe. Altogether, it has 8000 employees and an annual budget of 600 million Euros. In the KIT, both partners are bundling their scientific competences and capacities, establishing optimum research structures, and developing joint strategies and visions.

The KIT will be an institution of internationally excellent research and teaching in natural and engineering sciences. KIT shall attract the best experts from all over the world, set new standards in teaching and promotion of young scientists, and establish the leading European center in the field of energy research. KIT will assume a leading role in nanosciences worldwide. It is the objective of KIT to be one of the most important cooperation partners of industry.