title: Participation in 'big style': first observations at the German citizens' dialogue on future technologies.
abstract: In 2010, the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research started a series of citizens' dialogues on future technologies. In the context of the German history of public participation in technology-oriented policy making, these dialogues are unique for at least two reasons: The Federal Ministry retains the responsibility for the entire process and is heavily involved in its planning, organization and communication, and the number of participants and process elements is significantly higher than in most other participative events. The paper presents insights into the political background of the citizens' dialogues, its general concept as well as first observations from the dialogue rounds on energy and high-tech medicine. In addition, it discusses reactions of other political actors and expectations regarding legitimacy and representativeness of the dialogue results.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Technology Assessment and Systems Analysis (ITAS), Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Karlstrasse 11, 76133 Karlsruhe, Germany.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Decker
authors.forename: Torsten
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Fleischer