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Science, Technology, and Policy Studies (STePS)

Stefan Kuhlmann Department Chair
Stefan Kuhlmann

Innovations in science and technology involve expectations of economic profit, concerns about social impact, and challenges for regulatory governance. Genomics, nanotechnology and e-health are examples of fields of technology that mobilize interests and stir debate among many diverse actors.

The Department of Science, Technology, and Policy Studies (STePS) takes the assessment and governance of innovations and emerging technologies as its central theme of teaching and research. STePS considers in particular strategic issues that are multidisciplinary: they involve developments in science, technology, politics and society, as well as interaction between them. Studies conducted within STePS link analytical and normative perspectives, and consider not only technological innovations but also innovations in governance.

In 2009, an international evaluation committee stated that the research carried out by the STePS has had a major impact on science and technology policy development. In particular, the method developed by the department known as Constructive Technology Assessment (CTA), which offers a platform for normative discussion, has gained worldwide attention. According to the committee, the department is one of the international trend-setters in this field.

STePS carries out fundamental and applied research and is organised around three themes:

  1. Science, Innovation, and Policies - developing insights into management processes and policy development
  2. Technology, Dynamics and Assessment - analysing the dynamics of technological development and assessing socio-technical change
  3. History of Science, Technology and Society - tracing longer-term developments and transformations

STePS in the context of IGS has organised a conference on 'Tentative Governance' in October 2010, with some 100 contributors and about 180 international participants.

See: www.utwente.nl/igs/international_conference_tenta/

Publications:
  • All STEPS publications
  • Hoppe, R., Colebatch, H.K. & Noordegraaf, M. (Eds.). (2010). Working for Policy. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press.
  • Oost, E.C.J. van, Verhaegh, S.J.S. & Oudshoorn, N.E.J. (2010). Wi-Fi as Community-based Innovation. In W. Lemstra, V. Hayes & J. Groenewegen (Eds.), The genesis of Wi-Fi (pp. 263-287). Cambridge University Press.
  • Roberts, L.L. (2010). Instruments of Science and Citizenship: Science Education for Dutch Orphans During the Late Eighteenth Century. Science and education, in press(in press), 1-21.
  • Schot, J.W., Lintsen, H. & Rip, A. (Eds.). (2010). Technology and the Making of the Netherlands. The Age of Contested Modernization, 1890-1970. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press.
  • Smits, R., Kuhlmann, S. & Shapira, P. (Eds.). (2010). The Theory and Practice of Innovation Policy. An International Research Handbook. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar.
  • More information: www.mb.utwente.nl/steps
  • Department Chair: Prof.dr. Stefan Kuhlmann