Research environments and infrastructures for participatory research
Technology assessment means comprehensively evaluating the potential consequences of technologies – from a scientific, political, and social perspective. The aim is also to contribute to shaping socio-technical change toward sustainable development. Technological developments influence all areas of life and must not only be understood, but also critically reflected upon and shaped. Research infrastructures at ITAS are therefore always places of dialogue.
The ITAS research infrastructures create spaces for dialogue, reflection, and experimentation. In order to actively shape social change, open research formats are needed in which citizens, politics, business, and science work together. To this end, ITAS operates various meeting places, platforms, real-world labs, and specialist portals that combine research, dialogue, and innovation – on site, digitally, and on the go.
The following examples provide an insight into these infrastructures:
The Mobile Participation Lab “MobiLab” is a platform for the exchange between science and society. Researchers use it for various forms of participatory research, citizen science, and science communication. Both the concept and the realization as a multifunctional tiny house produced as sustainably as possible are unique. The MobiLab is open to the participation of different groups of users.
The Sustainable Futures Lab (SFL) supplements transdisciplinary research approaches in real-world laboratories with virtual experiences and experiments. Here, ITAS uses a virtual environment (“Cube”) in Karlsruhe to support participatory projects. Using data, simulation, visualization, and interaction components, the SFL brings stakeholders together and enables the joint creation of future scenarios and virtual experimentation with possible solutions. Learning processes take place between science and society.
In addition to the permanently installed “Cube,” the SFL uses a mobile showroom with flexibly combinable projection screens that can be used at different locations. The showroom is transported by the PartiziVan, a specially equipped vehicle with electric drive that also provides other participation tools such as mixed-reality glasses. This allows researchers to work with people on site, even outside of Karlsruhe.
Karl9 – Science hub for technology and society in the immediate vicinity of the ITAS institute building is a space where citizens can familiarize themselves with the work of ITAS and exchange ideas with researchers. The barrier-free hub hosts exhibitions, discussion events, and workshops.
openTA is a web-based specialist portal for the interdisciplinary research field of technology assessment (TA). The main objective is to improve information, communication, and cooperation in the TA community. To this end, ITAS researchers develop and maintain services that can be used both centrally and in a decentralized form via integration into the websites of the respective TA institutions. The specialist portal thus strengthens the international network of TA institutions, supports teaching, and makes TA knowledge publicly available.
TATuP – Journal for Technology Assessment in Theory and Practice is the only open access journal for technology assessment and provides a platform for interdisciplinary exchange. The peer-reviewed journal publishes current research results, analyses, and policy recommendations and is addressed not only to scientists but also to political decision makers and the interested public. Thanks to the diamond open access model, all articles are available free of charge – both online and in print.
The Real-world Lab “Robotic AI” explores the use of humanoid robots in everyday situations, for example, in care homes, day-care centers, schools, libraries, and museums. As a long-term experimental ground, the real-world lab enables citizens, practice partners, and researchers to jointly test and further develop technologies. The potential and challenges of the technology thus become tangible, and practical and ethical issues, for example, are addressed at an early stage.
ITAS is intensively involved in the design, operation, and conceptual development of real-world laboratories as long-term research settings for transdisciplinary research. Examples of such labs with ITAS involvement are the real-world lab “Robotic Artificial Intelligence,” the project “Staying Young with Robots” (JuBot), and the real-world lab “Autonomous Driving in the Mobility System of the Future” (ADMoS-Future).
Since 2015, ITAS has been operating the Future Space for Sustainability and Science as a meeting point for the “District Future – Urban Lab” and the “Urban Transition Lab 131” in Karlsruhe’s Oststadt district. The space enables researchers to work closely with local stakeholders. In addition to research, the future space also serves to advise citizens of the district and is now firmly established as a creative think tank for sustainable neighborhood development.