Workshop: After Public Engagement? Towards a Critical Governance of Emergent Technologies. Lugar: Barcelona, Casa de Convalescència. Hospital de Sant Pau.

When talking about the governance of emerging technologies words such as complex, precautionary, inclusive and deliberative are repeatedly used as defining terms. Seen through these concepts, `the governance of science¿ has been used as a recursive discourse at the national and European levels for more than 10 years now. The emergence of new technologies such as nanotech and synthetic biology is seen as imminent. At the same time, the realisation of these technologies is often presented as a matter of public deliberation, and eventually as a collective choice of the `European¿ citizens. Some proponents of public engagement have reacted to a current `institutionalization¿ of public engagement, and even talk about the `tyranny of participation. For instance, less than 5 years ago, nanotechnology was presented as both entailing imminent market opportunities and as The Opportunity for upstream public engagement. During these years numerous public engagement nano-exercises have been carried out. It is still unclear whether these exercises have critically influenced the developments of nanotechnology. Is public engagement merely providing legitimation without empowerment? In this workshop we aim to address a number of key questions in the governance of emerging technologies: has `real¿ public engagement ever happened? If so, on what occasions? If not: why did it not come about? And why did some (citizens and academics) seem to get tired of public engagement before it even happened? Is it simply becoming an obligatory and tiring issue for citizens and scientists? Does the emerging character of some technologies limit the emergence of real engagement? If so: how? Why did some emerging technologies such as GMOs provoke so much `spontaneous¿ engagement, while others, such as nanotechnology, never really became an issue of public concern in the same way? Do we need alternatives to institutionalised ideas and practices of `precaution¿, `public engagement¿ and `deliberative democracy¿ for the governance of emerging technologies? How can we think about alternatives?