Paper short abstract:

To provide orientation for transformation projects and to make their promises and consequences subject to reflection, we propose a "transformation assessment" through technology assessment. It integrates a systems-theoretical, an anthropological, and a vision-assessing perspective.

Paper long abstract:

Transformation programs are launched to address global challenges and enable more sustainable futures. However, each transformation requires reorganizing basic socio-technical systems that can affect all social subsystems. These changes have far-reaching consequences and affect actors who may not be directly involved in the transformation effort. Crisis-driven transformation programs, such as those focused on energy or digital transitions, can cause significant disruptions in social coexistence because they are often initiated without consideration of the necessary social and structural changes. These interdependencies within transformation activities have received limited attention. Understanding them is critical to the success of transformation.

Technology assessment (TA) is involved in transformation projects at all levels. Like other approaches in STS, TA's expertise lies in its interdisciplinary and integrated range of theories and methods to critically anticipate, examine, evaluate, communicate, and help shape (emerging) transformations. TA is concerned with creating structures that generate solutions to problems in society. It situates these activities in a larger societal perspective, assessing their potential for change and impact on social subsystems while considering their visionary promise and interconnectedness.

Our paper will outline a concept for "transformation assessment" by and in TA. It is intended to provide orientation for transformation projects and to make their possibilities and consequences visible, assessable, and subject to reflection. It integrates the analysis of transformations from a systems-theoretical, an immersive anthropological, and a vision-assessment perspective. In this sense, "transformation assessment" could be a resource for the co-shaping and governance of transformation projects.