What is technology assessment?
Open Access
- 1 July 2009
- journal article
- general essays
- Published by Cambridge University Press (CUP) in International Journal of Technology Assessment in Health Care
- Vol. 25 (S1), 7-9
- https://doi.org/10.1017/s0266462309090333
Abstract
Technology is generally defined as “science or knowledge applied to a definite purpose.” Technology assessment has been defined as a form of policy research that examines short- and long-term consequences (for example, societal, economic, ethical, legal) of the application of technology. The goal of technology assessment was said to be to provide policy makers with information on policy alternatives. Health technology assessment (HTA) grew out of this field and was developed in the U.S. Office of Technology Assessment (OTA). However, the OTA was closed in 1995. The links between technology assessment and health technology assessment were more-or-less lost after the dissolution of OTA, and few workers in the field of HTA seem familiar with the roots of the field in the more general and social-oriented technology assessment.Keywords
This publication has 4 references indexed in Scilit:
- Health care policy: qualitative evidence and health technology assessmentHealth Policy, 2003
- The development of health technology assessmentHealth Policy, 2002
- Technology Assessment and the Sociopolitics of Health TechnologiesJournal of Health Politics, Policy and Law, 2000
- Technology Assessment: Opportunities and ObstaclesIEEE Transactions on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics, 1977