Forum for Technology, Citizens & the Market

The RSA's Forum for Technology, Citizens and the Market was launched in January 2004. It consisted of a core group of science-based companies, supported by a number of major stakeholders and organisations: academia (particularly in the areas of science and social science), government, the insurance and investment communities, consumer organisations, the media, NGOs, etc.

The Forum's long-term goal is to further two of the RSA's key challenges - 'encouraging enterprise' and 'fostering resilient communities'. These challenges are combined in its objective of helping science-based companies to anticipate and engage with public concerns around technology - whether these concerns are focussed on research, products or company operations.

Goals

Our ambition is to bring about practical changes in the way in which companies consult their customers and accommodate their values and concerns - as a routine stage early in the product development process, rather than a post-mortem after products have reached the market.

Our first project has been to commission a piece of research on the current state of public engagement within science-based companies. Drawing on its findings, we have developed a web-based guidance tool to help companies plan constructive engagement processes.

The Forum also runs regular events for its members, designed to bring together perspectives from different sectors on controversial issues around technological innovation. Topics discussed in the past year included 'Who is regulation for?', 'Who is the man in the street?', 'Does the public want precaution?' and 'Nanotechnology - who benefits, and who is accountable?' The Forum also collaborated with Demos to launch its pamphlet 'See-Through Science: why public engagement needs to move upstream'.

People

The Forum and the Guidance project are managed by a team drawn from the RSA and the Science and Technology Studies department at University College London (led by project director Susie Harries, RSA, and project manager Dr. Jane Gregory, UCL). The project's first champion has been Professor Malcolm Grant, Provost of UCL, Chairman of the government's Agriculture and Environment Biotechnology Commission, and Chair of the recent GM Nation? debate's Steering Group. He has also chaired the Forum's Steering Group, drawn from all of the constituencies with an interest in more intelligent and authentic public engagement in the introduction and use of technology.

The project was completed in 2004.