Shaping tomorrow's digital society in times of disruption

Handover of the EPTA Presidency from the Netherlands to Germany

Niederländischer Botschafter van Roeden eröffent die Veranstaltung des EPTA-Netzwerks — H.E. Ambassador Ronald van Roeden welcomes "his" guests

Kai Gehring beim EPTA-Event in der Niederländischen Botschaft — In his speech, Kai Gehring also emphasized the great importance of European cooperation in questions of technology assessment.

Symbolische Übergabe der EPTA-Präsidentschaft von NL an DE. Petra Verhoef, Kai Gehring, Armin Grunwald (vlnr.) — Petra Verhoef presents the EPTA whip to Kai Gehring and Armin Grunwald

Armin Grunwald zu Digitalisierung und Demokratie — Panel discussion with Members of Parliament and Mariette v. Hujistee and Armin Grunwald

Mariette v. Hujistee, Michael Kaufmann, Armin Grunwald, Stephan Seiter, Petra Verhoef, Kai Gehring, Bart Sattler, van Roeden, Laura Kraft, Ralph Lenkert — Group picture (v.l.n.r.: Mariette v. Hujistee, Michael Kaufmann, Armin Grunwald, Stephan Seiter, Petra Verhoef, Kai Gehring, Bart Sattler, Ronald van Roeden, Laura Kraft, Ralph Lenkert)

In a hybrid format with about 40 participants on site as guests at the Dutch Embassy, ten by zoom and 40 by livestream, EPTA* celebrated the formal handover of the EPTA Presidency 2022 to the German delegation. Kai Gehring, Chairman of the Committee on Education, Research and Technology Assessment of the German Bundestag, accepts the symbolic "EPTA whip" from the representative of the Rathenau Institute.

The ceremonial handover was followed by two input statements and a lively panel discussion with members of the German Bundestag, followed by questions and answers from the participants on the following topic: "Shaping tomorrow's digital society".

Although, as expected, no conclusive solutions were found during this short event, all agreed on the importance of the role of precautionary and international technology assessment for parliaments and on the continuing importance of science-policy dialogue for sustainable innovation in a time of multiple crises.

Programme

7:00 p.m.	Welcome by H.E. the Ambassador Ronald van Roeden, Greeting by the Chairman of the Committee for Education, Research and Technology Assessment, Kai Gehring
19:15	Symbolic handover of the EPTA presidency from the Netherlands to Germany
19:30	Politics and science in dialog: "Shaping tomorrow's digital society" -. Thematic impulse: Prof. Dr. Armin Grunwald (Director of TAB), Dr. Mariëtte van Huijstee (Rathenau Instituut) Moderated dialogue with the rapporteurs for technology assessment of the parliamentary groups in the Bundestag : Laura Kraft (B90/The Greens), Prof. Dr. Stephan Seiter (FDP), Prof. Dr. Michael Kaufmann (AfD), Ralph Lenkert (The Left) and Kai Gehring, (Chairman of the Committee on Education, Research and Technology Assessment, B90/The Greens). and the viewers on site and EPTA colleagues in the Zoom meeting. Moderation: Dr. Petra Verhoef (Rathenau Instituut)
20:30	Closing with refreshments

Programme (PDF, German/English)

The dialogue event (in English) was livestreamed from 19:00-20:30 and is available as a recording in full length here.

* EPTA is the European network for parliamentary technology assessment institutions. EPTA's current 25 members advise their respective parliaments on issues of current technologies and innovations. The topic chosen by TAB for the annual EPTA conference, taking place in the middle of October in the German Bundestag is "Disruption in Society. TA to the rescue".

Organisers

Further information

The impact of crises marks the handover of the EPTA presidency. Review by the Rathenau Institute