Visit by students from Moscow

From 16 to 25 January 2019, ITAS provided insights into current developments in Technology Assessment to prospective sociologists of technology from Russia. Researchers from several disciplines and institutions took part in the programme.
Studierende aus Moskau zu Gast am ITAS
Students of the BMSTU with Constanze Scherz, Deputy Director of the Institute, Armin Grunwald, Director of the Institute, and Pavel Kulakov and Aleksandra Kazakova, Organizers of the Program (in the middle behind, from left to right) ...
Studierende aus Moskau zu Gast im Büro für Technikfolgen-Abschätzung beim Deutschen Bundestag
... at the Office of Technology Assessment at the German Bundestag (TAB) ...
Studierende aus Moskau zu Gast im Berliner ITAS-Büro
... and in the Berlin office of ITAS.

Within the framework of cooperation between the Bauman Moscow State Technical University (BMSTU) and KIT, ITAS welcomed seven students from the bachelor's programme "Sociology of Engineering and Innovation Processes". The group was accompanied by Elena Gavrilina and Aleksandra Kazakova, who research and teach at the BMSTU in the field of sociology of technology.

The aim of the visit on "Technology, Innovation and Society – TA and STS Perspectives" was to gain insights into current TA developments and potential future fields of employment. The focus was made on basic methodological and conceptual approaches such as parliamentary TA, vision assessment, RRI and global TA. Researchers from ITAS illustrated them with reference to concrete projects and fields of technology such as blockchain, mobility and digitisation of work.

Stops in Karlsruhe, Frankfurt a. M. and Berlin

ITAS was also able to engage other speakers from KIT for the programme – for example, from the Institute for History, the Institute of Applied Informatics and Formal Description Methods (AIFB), the Institute of Technology Futures (ITZ), the Institute for Entrepreneurship, Technology management and Innovation (EnTechnon) and the university group PionierGarage.

The aim was to provide the Russian students with insights into other organizations and research perspectives. The programme therefore included visits to the Fraunhofer ISI in Karlsruhe, the Office of Technology Assessment at the German Bundestag (TAB) and the Institute for Futures Studies and Technology Assessment (IZT) in Berlin, as well as to the Goethe University in Frankfurt, which recently launched a master's programme in Science and Technology Studies.

Beyond the visit, there is also the prospect of even closer cooperation in the future. The BMSTU is planning to establish a Master's programme in "Social Analysis of Technological Innovations and Risks", to which colleagues from Germany will also contribute their expertise. (31.01.2019)

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