The Danish Board of Technology forever!

von Ingrid von Berg (ITAS)

The Danish Board of Technology was set up as an independent institution by the Danish Parliament in 1986; it was informally connected to the Ministry of Education. Its main mission was Technology Assessment and public debate. Over the past year, the fate of the Board was insecure and was debated in Parliament. It has now been established on a permanent basis. On 1 August 1995 the organisation will be renamed, probably to "The Danish Council of Technology Assessment". At the same time, the organisation will be given a new framework for its work.

On 31 May, 1995, the Danish Parliament passed the law which establishes the Danish Board of Technology on a long-term basis. It decided on a new structure for the Board of Technology which met the approval of the large majority of the Folketinget. The Danish Board of Technology will continue as an independent body under the Ministry of Research. It will have a board of governors of 11 members - the Minister of Research appointing the chairman and three other members.

According to the Act, the Danish Board of Technology has four main goals:

(1) to monitor the technological development;

(2) to carry out comprehensive Technology Assessments of the possibilities of technology and the consequences for society and the individual citicen;

(3) to initiate and perform technology assessment studies independently;

(4) to communicate the results of the work to Parliament and to the various decision-makers in society and to the Danish population to support and stimulate a public debate on technology.

The main new feature is a representative group of 50 people appointed by a wide spectrum of organisations in Danish society. This group will function "as a forum of open debate on current subjects related to technology assessment".

More detailed information will follow in the next issue of the TA-Datenbank-Nachrichten.

Contact

Jan Ejlsted
The Danish Council of Technology
Assessment - Teknologir_adet
Antonigade 4, DK-1106 Copenhagen K
Denmark
Tel. + 45-33/32-0503