The Office of Technology Assessment (OTA), created by the U.S. Congress in 1972, was the first government body exclusively devoted to conducting studies and providing advice to a legislature on the impacts of technology on society.  OTA developed a worldwide reputation, conducting hundreds of studies for Congress on subjects ranging from advanced networking technology to AIDS to the lumber industry.  It was unique among agencies serving the U.S. Congress not just in the range of its work, but in the depth of its technical expertise and in the long-term view it brought to its studies. 

In 1995, control of Congress passed to the Republican party after many decades of Democratic control.  The new Republican leadership felt that OTA did not serve their purposes and, in a partisan decision thinly disguised as an economy move, eliminated funding for the agency and forced it to close its doors.  Scientists, government officials, and science and technology policy experts objected, but failed to stop the closure.  In the words of Richard Nicholson, former executive officer of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, "There used to be a time that knowledge was power. Now it seems like Congress has decided it's a nuisance." 

Other nations, which followed the U.S. example in establishing parliamentary offices of technology assessment, did not follow its lead in abolishing these offices.  Today, at least ten European nations, plus the European Parliament are served by technology assessment organizations.  These bodies conduct policy studies of issues raised by scientific and technological developments, many of which seek to anticipate the future impacts of technologies under development or the impacts of current societal trends.  Some conduct "participatory assessments," engaging members of the public in their analyses.

There have been discussions in the U.S. about re-establishing a technology assessment office to serve the U.S. Congress and Representative Rush Holt (D-New Jersey), a physicist, has introduced a bill to do this.  As of now, however, the U.S. Congress, the pioneer in the field, lacks its own technology assessment capability.

(This list omits most sector-specific technology assessment organizations and resources--i.e., those devoted solely to health technology, educational technology, environmental technology, etc.)

The OTA Legacy.  Hosted by Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School, this site contains a complete archive of official OTA reports together with many other OTA publications and documents in the form of pdf files available for browsing or downloading.  Also on the site are historical documents, retrospectives, analyses, and news articles about OTA's work.  The interesting story of how this digital archive was created is told on another site.

OTA documents are also archived on a site at the U.S. National Academy of Sciences.  The Academy site describes the organization of OTA and has a copy of its enabling law.

A set of CD-ROMs containing all of OTA's reports can be ordered from the  U.S. Government Printing Office (although not through the dead link on the page).

Norman Vig and Herbert Paschen's book, Parliaments and Technology (Albany:  State University of New York Press, 1999), is a comparative analysis of the development and practice of parliamentary technology assessment in different national settings.  It explains the origins, methods, and impacts in five European countries--Britain, France, Germany, Denmark, and the Netherlands, as well as the European Parliament.  You can order the book in paperback ($26.95) from the Technology and the Future Bookstore (an Amazon affiliate).

The United Kingdom Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology (POST).  POST is an office of the two Houses of Parliament (Commons and Lords), charged with providing balanced and objective analysis of science and technology based issues of relevance to Parliament.

The European Parliamentary Technology Assessment Network (EPTA Network) is a consortium of European parliamentary bodies engaged in TA on behalf of their respective governments.  The site has links to these bodies.  EPTA also organizes and an annual conference and maintains a mailing list.

Teknologi Rådet--the Danish Board of Technology--was created by the Danish Parliament "in order to disseminate knowledge about technology, its possibilities and its effects on people, on society and on the environment. The Board is supposed to promote the ongoing discussion about technology, to evaluate technology and to advise the Danish Parliament (the Folketing) and other governmental bodies in matters pertaining to technology."

The Finnish Parliament's Committee for the Future conducts technology assessments for its parent body.  Current studies focus on aging, knowledge management and energy.

The Parliamentary Office for Evaluation of Scientific and Technological Options of the French National Assembly and Senate (OPECST) was established in 1983.  The Office serves "to inform Parliament of scientific and technological options in order, specifically, to make its decisions clear," by collecting information, launching study programmes and carrying out assessments.

The Office of Technology Assessment at the German Parliament (TAB) is an "independent scientific institution created with the objective of advising the German Bundestag and its committees on matters relating to research and technology."

The Hellenic Parliament (Greece) has a Special Standing Committee on Technology Evaluation.  It is does not appear to have its own page but is described here.

The Rathenau Institute serves as the technology assessment office for the Netherlands Parliament.  Since it is a small organization, it does most of its work in collaboration with other organizations.  Its projects range from livestock breeding to e-commerce and include work in participatory technology assessment.

The Centre for Technology Assessment of the Swiss Science and Technology Council created by the Swiss Parliament in 1991 performs the following roles:  (1) providing the public and parliament as well as  researchers themselves with decision aids for the assessment of the effects of scientific research and technological development; (2) conducting TA to accompany research promoted by the Swiss Confederation; (3) ensuring objectivity in the socio-political discussion on the effects of scientific research and technological developments; and (4) serving as a contact point and clearing-house for related and similar institutions at home or abroad. 

The Teknologiradet seems to be Norway's parliamentary technology assessment office.  Unfortunately the English version of the site is not functioning at the moment and my very limited knowledge of Norwegian doesn't permit me to tell you much about it.

Scientific and Technological Options Assessment (STOA) is the technology assessment office for the European Parliament.  It operates by commissioning studies from outside bodies.  Recent studies have included: sustainable use of pesticides; bioinformatics; orphan drugs; revitalizing railways; small and medium enterprises' technology and development; the Internet as a means of promoting human rights; deliberate release of genetically modified organisms; superconductors; and the aging of society.

The Institute of Technology Assessment (ITA), a research facility of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, located in Vienna, "performs inter-disciplinary scientific research at the interface of technology and society. Its work focusses on developmental trends, on societal consequences and on options for the shaping of technological change. The research results provide the basis, i.a., for giving advice to decision-makers."  ITA's site has an extensive list of links associated with technology assessment.

The International Center for Technology Assessment is "a non-profit, bi-partisan organization committed to providing the public with full assessments and analyses of technological impacts on society."  It is currently engaged in suing the Bush Administration over its failure to address global warming.

The Cellule Interfacultaire de Technology Assessment (CITA), an interdisciplinary research team at the University of Namur (Belgium) focuses mainly on information and communication technology.
 

The Brussels-based European Commission sponsors technology assessments under its Fifth Framework Programme through the STRATA program (Strategic Analysis of Specific Political Issues).  STRATA is the successor to ETAN, the European Technology Assessment Network, which operated under the Fourth Framework Programme.

Technology Assessment reports from the RAND Corporation (links to full texts).

Article on technology assessment from the Wikipedia, a free online encyclopedia.

"Congressional Resources for Technology Assessment," a 2002 public policy priority of the USA division of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE-USA).  Inlcudes links to several useful papers on TA.