The first years of the new century are characterised by a persistent stagnation of the European economy. In contrast to the long-term trend, but similarly to the late sixties or early eighties, the economic gap between Europe and the US widens again, giving rise to heated discussions on both...

The public and even scientists consider prevention and promotion of technologies as technology assessments’ primary task. This view is incompatible with democracy and devoid of any scientific foundation. Evaluating the cost and benefits of a technology affords value judgements, and the...

It is widely believed that the Information Society and its economic counterpart, the New Economy, require more flexibility especially in the labour market (i.e. less long term contracts) to allow faster reactions to the increased speed of change. The paper argues that increased complexity rather...

It is still disputed whether foresight exercises should be based on top-expert assessments or on a broader base of less specialised experts, and whether the self-rating of experts is an acceptable method. Using the German 1993 and the Austrian 1998 Technology Delphis, this study addresses both...

Digitizing, Minimizing and Networking are the prerequisites for the evolving Information-Society, whose most attracting features are gathering, storing, linking and providing of enormous amounts of data. Best-known advantages are easy communication via e-Mail, easy access to information via...