Mapping the interplay of policy paradigms and technology assessment in Flanders and Wallonia (Belgium)

This paper empirically assesses how science, technology, and innovation (STI) policies in the regions of Flanders and Wallonia (Belgium) are affected by, and possibly transformed through, technology assessment (TA). Broadly defined, TA encompasses activities and programs that seek to expand and deepen the knowledge base of contemporary knowledge-based economies (KBEs), typically by including new actors (e.g. trade unions), ideas (e.g. science in society), and rationales (e.g. participatory techniques) in STI processes. The paper thus seeks to render concrete how TA ideas and programs unfold with, and potentially steer, new articulations of knowledge, which are imperative to present-day STI processes. Drawing on TA case studies in the two regions, the paper illustrates how TA takes on various shapes and forms, including that of mediating instrument, policy-oriented decision-making tool linked to Parliament, and experimental-deliberative mechanism. It is argued that while these TA forms engender new kinds of knowledge and knowledge production, the extent to which TA discourses and practices are effectively taken up in STI is contingent upon how TA taps into, and aligns itself with, global and regional dynamics. The former comprise the convergence of technology research and innovation around the KBE and the advent of strategic science, with its emphasis on real-world problem solving (relevance) and basic research (excellence); the latter entail constitutional reforms that spurred the regionalization of STI policy in Belgium. Our analysis brings a macro-sociological and political sensitivity to bear on TA. Rather than conceiving of TA as a mere management tool or governance technique, we suggest that TA processes enact, as well as counteract, dominant innovation policies. How TA positions itself or is positioned in relation to these policies, is particularly relevant to consider in view of the Flemish Government’s recent decision to abolish its parliamentary TA institute and the Walloon Government’s intention of erecting one.