Technology assessment in Central and Eastern Europe: patterns and catalysts

This chapter presents an overview of contemporary technology assessment (TA) activities in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) based on recent evidence. Since the second half of the 1990s, the region has undergone transformative changes with regard to the Europeanization of research and innovation, which also benefited the TA field. While designated TA institutes and organisations remain limited to Western European countries, several international research projects have helped to expand the TA network to CEE, increasing TA activities and TA innovation. While there are intra-regional differences in these activities, institutes in Czechia, Bulgaria and Lithuania have emerged as TA network nodes based on the engagement of individual scientists. Public engagement in science and technology decision-making is low throughout, except for some activities in Bulgaria and Czechia. Government-level strategies and institutional support for TA actions, where they do exist, focus on the environment, health, and, more recently, artificial intelligence (AI).