Taking place in Barcelona, 18-22 July, the Euroscience Open Forum is a major venue for connecting academia, politics and the general public. The EPTA-network will host debates about the interaction between democracy and expertise.

Euroscience Open Forum (ESOF) gives an opportunity to discuss technological advances like nanotechnology, and challenges like climate change, societal dilemmas and how stakeholders and policy-makers can adjust.

The EPTA-network's experience with connecting science with policy-making and enabling broader public debate and participation, is of high interest. Parliamentarians from the European and national parliaments will take part in Barcelona, alongside representatives from a number of EPTA-institutions.

Science and governance
On the 19th of July, EPTA hosts a debate on the interaction between democracy and expertise. From 2:30-6:00 pm, we present insights into our work in delivering scientific evaluation of technological options. The session will highlight the experiences of the European Parliament and national parliaments who have undertaken projects with significant scientific or technological content.

During the session parliamentarians will be invited to have dialogues with practitioners in technology assessment and with the audience.

Nanotechnology and dilemmas
The session involves two major topics. Firstly, the case of nanotechnology is a prominent example of an emerging, and thereby uncertain technology. We will discuss how this should be understood in terms of societal dilemmas and needs for policy-making.

Secondly, we take a general perspective on how to make TA and scientific insights relevant for politics in general, based on insights from TA-projects on climate change and nanotechnology.

EPTA participants include STOA (the European Parliament), the Rathenau Institute (The Netherlands), the Flemish Institute for Science and Technology, the for Technology Assessment in Austria, TA-Swiss, the Norwegian Board of Technology, the Office of Technology Assessment at the German Parliament and the Danish Board of Technology.

EPTA will also participate in the exhibition, with opportunities to exchange views and experiences on science and governance.

About ESOF Euroscience Open Forum (ESOF) presents and profiles Europe's leading research trends in the sciences, humanities and social sciences. This is a biannual event.

ESOF 2008 takes place in the Barcelona Conference Centre, in the centre of Barcelona.

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