Learning in,through, and about participatory technology assessment: the case of Nanotechnologies for Tomorrow's Society (NanoSoc)

In participatory technology assessment (pTA), technical and nontechnical communities convene to share their views on a sociotechnical challenge, in an attempt to render technology research and development more socially robust. Taking these commitments to transdisciplinary collaboration and co-construction of technology as entry points, this article describes key tensions that emerged in a Flemish pTA project on nanotechnologies, entitled ‘Nanotechnologies for Tomorrow's Society’ (NanoSoc). The tensions relate to how the terms of participation were enacted, the potentially conflicting aims embedded in the project's mission and methods, the various roles initiating pTA researchers (social scientists) assumed throughout the project's duration, and the deliberative-democratic rationale that sustains pTA frameworks at large. The article is a response to a pressing question posed to the author by pTA professionals, project participants and policymakers who ask publics to partake in science and technology decision making: now that NanoSoc is concluded, what can we learn from it?