Democratic function of technology assessment in technology policy decision-making

Whilst there is general agreement that technology assessment (TA) is necessary in policy-making, there is little recognition that the process should be more democratic. TA with public participation would have a twofold function: to organise knowledge on the possible impacts of technological processes and to stimulate, and make more rational, society's discourse on technological development. The difficulties of TA with public participation will only be surpassed by the difficulties without it.