PACITA: Parliaments and Civil Society in Technology Assessment

The PACITA Mobilisation and Mutual Learning Action Plan is aimed at increasing the capacity and enhancing the institutional foundation for knowledge-based policy-making on issues involving science, technology and innovation, mainly based upon the diversity of practices in Parliamentary Technology Assessment (PTA). Such practices involve a range of methods of cross-disciplinary expert studies, stakeholder involvement, citizen consultation and parliamentary discourse.

PACITA will
a) document these practices,
b) describe schemes for using them trans-nationally and at European level,
c) establish a set of training schemes for users and practitioners,
d) establish a Web Portal to European TA expertise
e) create a debate on such practices in a set of countries, which do not have them formally established,
f) involve experts, societal actors and politicians in European debates on these practices,
g) provide 3 large example-projects on expert-based praxis, stakeholder involvement and citizen consultation,
h) support this with a strong dissemination strategy towards the scientific community, media and other European countries, which can favor from the mobilization and mutual learning created by the Action Plan, and
i) have an independent evaluator monitor the progress and results of the Action Plan.