How Do Governance Mechanisms for Science and Technology Travel Across Borders? 1

Session Submission Type: Open Panel

Abstract

A major theme in transnational STS is technology transfer; highlighting that one cannot take a technology from one place to another and expect it to function in the same way. Technologies may fail, attain different functions, or be altered entirely. Not only do technologies travel, but so do the mechanisms for governing science and technology. Models of innovation, frameworks of risk assessment, blueprints for public participation, and metrics for technological performance all travel from country to country.

In this panel, we explore what happens when governance mechanisms for science and technology travel across the globe. Literature from policy studies often departs from linear models of policy transfer and predominantly focuses on international organizations like the European Union and OECD. We aim to take a more symmetrical view, building upon recent literature on travelling imaginaries (Pfotenhauer and Jasanoff, 2017) and risk colonization (Beumer, 2017), to understand what exactly happens when governance mechanisms for science and technology travel from one place to another. We invite papers that help to feed critical discussions about the way science and technology governance travels, answering questions such as: how do actors draw upon practices from other places and adapt them to local conditions; what actor constellations are involved in making governance mechanism travel in different countries; what happens to governance mechanisms once they are appropriated in different contexts; how do travelling governance mechanisms abate or exacerbate inequality; and what kind of international governance mechanisms for science and technology are being developed?

Sub Unit

• Papers for Open Panels / How do governance mechanisms for science and technology travel across borders?

Chair

• Koen Beumer

Individual Presentations

• 3D Printing Governance: transitions of local, global, physible and digital imaginaries - luke heemsbergen, Deakin University; Angela Daly, QUT; Thomas Birtchnell, University of Wollongong

• Blinded by Technology? Genome Editing for Blindness and the Articulation of an Off-Target Problem - Seungho Yang, Seoul National University; GA EUN LEE, Seoul National University; Doogab Yi, Seoul National University

• Domestic chemical regulator behavior and international influences - Stefan Lodewyckx, Swinburne University of Technology; Erica Coslor, The University of Melbourne

• Friction in xenotransplantation: US and Australian regulatory responses to xenozoonosis - Rachel Carr

• From emulation to adaptation: nanotechnology policies in Argentina, Brazil and Mexico - Noela Invernizzi, Universidade Federal do Parana; Guillermo Foladori, Universidad Autonoma de Zacatecas; Edgar Zayago Lau, Universidad Autonoma de Zacatecas; Tomás Carrozza, Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata; Josemari Poerschke Quevedo, UFPR - Federal University of Paraná

Session Organizers

• Koen Beumer

• Noela Invernizzi, Universidade Federal do Parana