Technology policy

The term technology policy denotes all political activities involved in planning, developing, deploying and evaluating technology .

'Technology Policy' is also the name of a ministry department. This has been part of the Federal Ministry for Education, Science, Research and Technology (BMBF) since it was founded . In 1998 (change of government to red-green) the BMBF had to hand over the technology policy department to the Ministry of Economic Affairs and was therefore renamed the Federal Ministry of Education and Research .

Policy field

Technology policy is a policy field that, in addition to promoting research and development, also includes a wide range of measures for the diffusion and application of new technologies and the processing of subsequent problems (Simonis et al. 2001). Technology policy has therefore also been referred to as innovation policy since the 1980s. This tendency can be identified both at different political levels (e.g. regionally as a technology park or nationally as a national innovation system ) as well as at the level of internationally active companies that gear their technology development ( R&D ) strongly towards later applications and customer needs. This orientation has been increasingly pursued in European technology policy since the mid-1990s (Schaper-Rinkel 2003). The nation states compete with each other for the speed and intensity of the development of new technologies and analyze the funding measures of competing states increasingly systematically.

Instruments

The range of goals and actions of state technology policy is being expanded both qualitatively and quantitatively. The spectrum of instruments used in research and technology policy is correspondingly diverse. The instruments of state research and technology policy exist

in institutional funding (large research institutions, Max Planck Society , Fraunhofer Society , universities, etc.),
in financial incentives (programs with R&D funding and joint projects, innovation programs, risk capital ) and
in the provision of infrastructures and support for technology transfer (information and advice, support for cooperation and networks).

The instruments in the broader sense include the

public demand ,
the organization and financing of the discourse (long-term visions, technology assessment , awareness measures, planning cell ),
Basic and advanced training (initiation and promotion of the expansion and development of courses and the development of apprenticeships),
Regulatory policy (competition policy, regulatory policy, influencing private demand).

aims

As a relatively undisputed summary of general policy goals, the concept of sustainability has become established in recent years . Transferred to the area of technology policy, this means the orientation towards sustainable technologies , the development of which takes place in harmony with the ecological, economic and social needs of the users.

In energy and infrastructure policy , the goal of energy security is increasingly the focus. The accessibility of energy resources (oil, natural gas fields etc.) and the control of their technical distribution ( pipelines etc.) is a concern of geopolitics . Technology policy can set the course, for example when it comes to the question of whether a centralized or a decentralized energy supply will be promoted in the future and how great the dependency on foreign raw materials is.

literature

Jürgen Dispan, Sylvia Stieler: Perspectives on technology policy and innovation promotion in Baden-Württemberg . In: Wolfgang Krumbein, Astrid Ziegler (Hrsg.): Perspectives on technology and innovation promotion in Germany . Schüren-Verlag, Marburg 2005, ISBN 3-89472-214-2 , pp. 51-77.
Stefan Kuhlmann: Politics moderation. Evaluation procedures in research and technology policy . Nomos VG, Baden-Baden 1998, ISBN 3-7890-5534-4 (plus habilitation thesis, University of Kassel 1998).
Petra Schaper-Rinkel: The European information society. Technological and political integration in European politics . Verlag Das Westfälische Dampfboot, Münster 2003, ISBN 3-89691-542-8 (plus dissertation, FU Berlin)
Georg Simonis , Renate Martinsen, Thomas Saretzki (eds.): Politics and technology. Analyzes of the relationship between technological, political and state change at the beginning of the 21st century ( Politische Vierteljahresschrift / Sonderheft; Vol. 31). Westdeutscher Verlag, Wiesbaden 2001, ISBN 3-531-13569-4 .
Harm G. Schröter: Availability versus profitability. Paradigms in the research and technology policy of both German states . In: Technikgeschichte, Vol. 63 (1996), H. 4, pp. 343-361.