Science and Technology Policy

Maslen and colleagues offer an excellent model for regulating cognitive en- hancement devices (CEDs), and we largely endorse their approach of ex- tending medical device policy to include CEDs. Maslen et al. argue that since the risks and benefits of CEDs can be identified, consumers are best placed to evaluate the impact of these effects on their own wellbeing: ‘ex- perts are to assess what the risks are, the consumer how much they matter’. In principle, we agree: consumers should be allowed to decide what risks are worth taking, but the situation is somewhat more complicated, for the evidence that consumers are in a strong position to evaluate the many risks associated with CED use is lacking. Indeed, a glance at online forums on CEDs suggests that undue risks are already being taken. Importantly, given the ease with which devices can be built using easily obtainable parts, overly tough regulation will not effectively curtail use, but rather push it under- ground. For these reasons, we suggest that any regulatory framework be buttressed by principles of harm reduction, providing real-world users with expert-backed recommendations for safe use. We argue for the develop- ment of tools that facilitate this dialogue, while recognizing the challenges in so doing.

Technology assessment will provide important information to policymakers on how technology evolves and is disseminated. In other words, it will tell them details about the conditions and environments that stimulate innovation and the diffusion of technology. Therefore, policymakers should be better equipped to develop policies that would create favorable conditions for innovation and the diffusion of technology.

Another important message that can be transmitted through technology assessment is the reality of deepening interdependence in industrial activities beyond natural boundaries. The question that should be raised is not to what extent should we depend on foreign sources for the supply of critical commodities and technologies, but rather how can we sustain stable relations between countries so that we can maximize the benefits of interdependence

The European Satellite Navigation Program is a case study that combines technical, political and business aspects in an integrative way. This thesis analyzes the European Union policies for the Galileo program, Europe’s bid to have its own Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS).
Galileo is the Europe’s first major attempt to develop a complex, Pan-European infrastructure project, to be owned by the European Union. It challenges its capability to gather strength and achieve the political capability to deal with major technology policy projects to lead in world affairs. It is a unique case that serves as a precedent for further infrastructure/technical projects to be managed by European Union institutions in the future. Such a major technology policy project involves the interrelation of a complex structure of multinational political and industrial organizations, and the interrelation of leading edge technical, economic, commercial and social concerns in the heart of the European Communities.
During the last two decades Europe has committed to maintain a remarkable long-term vision and a strong political determination to developing Galileo. On the downside, the EU has had difficulties in establishing a coherent financing program and a punctual manufacturer deployment. On the basis of the Galileo endeavor, this thesis assesses the use of Public Private Partnerships in large pan-European infrastructure projects in the complex political framework of the European Union. This analysis is performed upon the perspective of a theory of how to devise a strategy, a tactical plan, and a way to implement a technology policy effectively, developed by the guidelines set forth by the MIT Technology and Policy Program. It reviews the history of the European Union’s policies attempting to develop Galileo, evaluates the strengths and weaknesses of such policies, and delivers a plan and a guide to help implement future projects more effectively.
Finally, it aims to provide a set of recommendations for the future policymaking the European Union will face in the next decades with regard to the operation and exploitation of the system.

Theories on diffusion focus on the adopter organizations and the factors that directly influence their adoptions, for example innovation characteristics and adopter categories. However, few academics have focused on the extended systems that affect the adopters’ process. We used case studies to investigate this relevant gap. We found that individual adoption processes -focal adoptions- depend on the accomplishment of other adoption processes. Based on these dependencies and the totality of factors affecting these adoptions, we developed a classification of focal adoption processes in order to understand the extent that they are in control of the focal adopters as well as to explain their potential for success and the support of public programmes that could be required. The results emphasise the need to refocus the government policies oriented to information systems for small and medium enterprises by considering a very complex diversity in this public sector area.

This study draws from the social world perspective to examine the relationships between scientific disciplines (i.e., molecular biology, plant physiology, agronomy, horticulture, and agroecology) at a university department in the field of plant production research. The interview data obtained in the study revealed that the complex organizational ecology of disciplines in the department involved four sources of conflict: (1) a challenge of the established departmental research tradition of agronomy, (2) a struggle over working space, (3) the extension into the department of an ethicalideological controversy over genetically modified organisms, and (4) the anchoring of disciplines to different organizational units of the university. Thus, instead of facilitating the synergistic potential of the disciplines, the organizational arrangements at the university blocked it. From this perspective, the study challenges, but does not refute, previous symbolic interactionist research by suggesting that conflicts may function as valuable analytic devices in revealing how formal organizational structures hinder the achievement of social order at the working level.

Review of the book: La enfermedad de Chagas en Argentina. Investigación científica, problemas sociales y políticas sanitarias [Chagas disease in Argentina. Scientific research, social problems and health policies], By Juan Pablo Zabala. Universidad Nacional de Quilmes, Argentina. 2010. 360 pages.

Sandstrom's talk on Human Extension starts (after video stall) at 30:55. The entire session is recommended, including presentations by Dr. Georg Theiner, Villanova University, Dr. David Budtz Pedersen, University of Copenhagen, and Dr. Francis Remedios, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

FP7-PEOPLE-2010 IRSES
Marie Curie Irses

Institutions organizing the Workshop within the EPSEI Consortium:

gLAWcal – Global Law Initiatives for Sustainable Development (United Kingdom)
Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences – CRAES (China)
Università degli Studi di Torino, Dipartimento di Giurisprudenza (Italy)
Aix-Marseille University, CEPERC (France)

EPSEI PROJECT
Evaluating Policies for Sustainable Energy Investments:
towards an Integrated Approach on National and International Stage

WORKSHOP ON CHINESE ECOLOGICAL CIVILIZATION AND WESTERN CONCEPTS

                                                                        held at
            Chinese Research Academy of Environmental    Sciences – CRAES (China)

                                                  Time: Morning, 1 Aug. 2014
                                          Venue: No. 2 meeting room, CRAES 
                                                              Beijing, China


8:30 - 9:00 Registration

9:00  Welcoming speeches

9:00- 9:10
Addressing - ZHANG Huiyuan, CRAES, Beijing China

9:10 – 9:15
Addressing – Paolo Davide FARAH, West Virginia University (WV, USA) & EPSEI Vice-coordinator at University of Turin Department of Law (Italy)


SESSION ONE

Chair and Moderator: ZHANG Huiyuan, CRAES, Beijing China

9:15 – 9:30
Vanessa KOPEC, Aix-Marseille University, CEPERC - Research Center for Comparative Epistemology and Ergology (France) & EU Commission Marie Fellow at Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences (CRAES), Beijing China

The Concept of “Ecologic Civilization”: from Traditional Roots to Contemporary Commitments

9:30 – 9:45
Jean-Yves HEURTEBISE, FuJen Catholic University (Taipei), Department of French Language and Culture; Aix-Marseille University, CEPERC - Research Center for Comparative Epistemology and Ergology (France); Kozmetsky Global Collaboratory in Stanford University (KGC, USA)

Environment, Science and Society

9:45-10:15
Yang Rongjin, CRAES, Beijing China

Ecological Civilization Progress in China

10:15-10:30
Fernando DIAS SIMOES, University of Macau, Faculty of Law (China) & Member of the Scientific Committee of gLAWcal – Global Law Initiatives for Sustainable Development (United Kingdom)

The Role of Citizens in an Ecological Civilization

10:30-10:45
Paolo Davide FARAH, West Virginia University (WV, USA), gLAWcal – Global Law Initiatives for Sustainable Development (United Kingdom), EPSEI Vice-coordinator at University of Turin Department of Law (Italy)

The Influence of Politics in the Law Making Process in the Field of the Ecological Civilization

10:45 – 11:00
Discussion chaired by ZHANG Huiyuan, CRAES, Beijing China

11:00-11:10 Break


SESSION TWO

POTENTIAL COOPERATION OPPORTUNITY

11:10-11:30
Zhang Huiyuan

Introduction of Chinese Institutions Academic Background, Existing Research Job, Ongoing Research Plan within EPSEI and Future Plan

11:30-11:40
Paolo Davide Farah

Introduction of the European University and Research Institutions, Current Research Scope, Outputs Already Achieved within EPSEI Project, Ongoing Books and Perspective Scientific Plan for Establishing Further Collaboration

11:40-12:10 Round Table Discussion with all the participants

Paolo Davide Farah, West Virginia University, (WV, USA) gLAWcal – Global Law Initiatives for Sustainable Development (United Kingdom), EPSEI Vice-coordinator at University of Turin Department of Law (Italy)

Jean Yves Heurtebise, FuJen Catholic University (Taipei), Department of French Language and Culture; Aix-Marseille University, CEPERC - Research Center for Comparative Epistemology and Ergology (France); Kozmetsky Global Collaboratory in Stanford University (KGC, US)

Vanessa KOPEC, Aix-Marseille University, CEPERC - Research Center for Comparative Epistemology and Ergology (France) & EU Commission Marie Fellow at Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences (CRAES), Beijing (China)

Fernando DIAS SIMOES, University of Macau, Faculty of Law (China) & Member of the Scientific Committee of gLAWcal – Global Law Initiatives for Sustainable Development (United Kingdom)

Dagmar RYCHNOVSKÁ, Charles University, School of Political Sciences and International Relations, Prague (Czech Republic)

Wang Yexu， Independent Ecologist, former official of FECO, Ministry of Environmental Protection of China

YU Hai, Policy Research Center, Ministry of Environmental Protection of China

HAN Wenya, Associate Researcher of Ecological Civilization Research and Promotion Association

ZHANG Huiyuan, Director of Ecological Civilization Center, CRAES

Li Xiushan, Researcher of Ecological Institute, CRAES

ZHOU Yun, Director of International Cooperation Department, CRAES

YANG Rongjin, Associate Researcher of Ecological Civilization Center, CRAES

Lv Hailiang, Associate Researcher of Ecological Civilization Center, CRAES

Other colleagues in CRAES


This workshop has been organized and implemented withint the European Community’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under grant agreement n° 269327 Acronym of the Project: EPSEI, Coordinated by University of Turin - Dipartimento di Giurisprudenza.
For any information about the EPSEI project and its objectives, please address your queries by email to: paolofarah@yahoo.com