Technikpolitik angesichts der Umweltkatastrophe

After a brief outline of the history of West-German technology policy since the last war, it is shown that new perspectives, mainly with environmental protection, energy saving and renewable energy provision are opening up. At the same time, public opposition toward major new technologies such as, for example, genetic engineering, is growing. A major redirection of West-German innovation policy under a new political paradigm seems to gain ground within the coming decades. In order to cope with the great variety to policy problems involved, technology assessments as a comprehensive methodological tool is gaining acceptance. Because of its small population and export orientation, West-Germany is being forced to steer a precarious path between the world wide technology push on the one hand and a future need orientation on the other.