Socio-Technical Futures Shaping the Present

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-ix

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2. Introduction: Socio‐Technical Futures Shaping the Present

   • Andreas Lösch, Armin Grunwald, Martin Meister, Ingo Schulz-Schaeffer

   Pages 1-14

3. Analytical Concepts, Different Kinds and Patterns of Socio-Technical Futures

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 15-15

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   2. Shaping the Present by Creating and Reflecting Futures

      • Armin Grunwald

      Pages 17-35

   3. Prototype Scenarios as Negotiation Arenas Between the Present and Imagined Futures. Representation and Negotiation Power in Constructing New Socio-Technical Configurations

      • Ingo Schulz-Schaeffer, Martin Meister

      Pages 37-65

   4. Visionary Practices Shaping Power Constellations

      • Andreas Lösch, Reinhard Heil, Christoph Schneider

      Pages 67-88

4. Socio-Technical Futures in Different Processes of Change

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 89-89

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   2. Globalizing Technologies: Geopolitical Innovation in the U.S. Bioeconomy

      • Tess Doezema

      Pages 91-110

   3. The Institutionalization of an Envisioned Future. Sensemaking and Field Formation in the Case of “Industrie 4.0” in Germany

      • Uli Meyer

      Pages 111-138

   4. Between Past, Present, and Future—The Temporality of Sociotechnical Futures in India’s GM Crops Debate

      • Andreas Mitzschke

      Pages 139-160

   5. Smart City Experimentation in Urban Mobility—Exploring the Politics of Futuring in Hamburg

      • Philipp Späth, Jörg Knieling

      Pages 161-185

5. Intervening into the Present Through Prospective Reasoning

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 187-187

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   2. Reflexive Hermeneutics Against Closing Down Technology Assessment Discourses: The Case of Synthetic Biology

      • Go Yoshizawa

      Pages 189-210

   3. In vitro Meat: The Normative Power of a Vision in the Innovation and Transformation Process

      • Inge Böhm, Silvia Woll, Arianna Ferrari

      Pages 211-229

   4. The Naming of the Beast. Scrutinizing Concepts of Technology Rich Futures

      • Jan Nolin, Gustaf Nelhans, Nasrine Olson

      Pages 231-254

   5. Intervening Through Futures for Sustainable Presents: Scenarios, Sustainability, and Responsible Research and Innovation

      • Lauren Withycombe Keeler, Michael J. Bernstein, Cynthia Selin

      Pages 255-282

6. White Paper on Technology Assessment and Socio-Technical Futures

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 283-283

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   2. Technology Assessment of Socio-Technical Futures—A Discussion Paper

      • Andreas Lösch, Knud Böhle, Christopher Coenen, Paulina Dobroc, Reinhard Heil, Armin Grunwald et al.

      Pages 285-308

​The exploration of ways to conceptualize the shaping of the present by socio‐technical futures is the aim of this volume. Therefore it brings together contributions from Science and Technology Studies and Technology Assessment, which focus all on the question how socio-technical images of the future shape present processes of innovation and transformation starting from empirical case studies and generalizing specific findings or by tackling conceptual questions from the outset. A white paper of 23 authors, which aims to sensitize researchers and practitioners completes the volume.

• Foresight
• Technology Assessment
• Science and Technology Studies
• Innovation Research
• Governance research
• Future oriented knowledge
• Anticipatory Governance
• Visions, imaginaries and scenarios
• Sociology of expectations

• Institut für Technikfolgenabschätzung und Systemanalyse (ITAS), Karlsruher Institut für Technologie, Karlsruhe, Germany

  Andreas Lösch, Armin Grunwald

• Institut für Soziologie, Technische Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany

  Martin Meister, Ingo Schulz-Schaeffer

Andreas Lösch is senior research scientist at the Institute for Technology Assessment and Systems Analysis (ITAS) and private lecturer for sociology at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT).



Armin Grunwald is director of the Institute for Technology Assessment and Systems Analysis (ITAS), full professor of philosophy and ethics of technology at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) and heads the Office of Technology Assessment at the German Bundestag (TAB).


Martin Meister is a research associate at the Department of Sociology, Chair on Sociology of Technology and Innovation at Technical University of Berlin.


Ingo Schulz-Schaeffer is full professor of sociology and head of the sociology of technology and innovation group at the Department of Sociology at Technical University of Berlin.

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