Learning from science and technology policy evaluation

Im September 2000, the School of Public Policy at Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) and the Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research (ISI) co-sponsored a US-European Workshop on Learning from Science and Technology Evaluation. The workshop was held at the Evangelische Akademie in Bad Herrenalb Germany. Some 30 American and European participants were involved in the workshop, including senior and junior scholars and representatives from science and technology organizations interested in evaluation. In addition to discussing state-of the-art evaluation research, the group considered possibilities for future US-European science and technology policy evaluation linkages. The Bad Herrenalb workshop provided a unique opportunity for transatlantic dialogue and the benchmarking of evaluative approaches in the field of science and technology policy. We are pleased, through this volume of procceedings, to make available a complete set of the workshop papers and discussion summaries to the broader community interested in this field. Much was learned at the workshop through comparisons of concepts, perspectives, methods and results. But it was also realized that much needs to be done in the US and Europe (as well as elsewhere) to improve the context, practice, and utility of evaluation in the science and technology shere. Workshop participants agreed that further transatlantic collaboration could be most helpful in making progress on these challenges, through such means as ongoing exchange, benchmarking networking, and joint methodological and project activities. In further developing such collaborations, we invite dialogue and engagement with others to build on the foundations of open exchange, constructive criticism and shared purpose established at Bad Herrenalb.