Risk, uncertainty and technology, India

Risk, uncertainty and emerging technologies in India and the UK

Focusing on issues and settings in India, this project will address how different institutions and groups frame and respond to risks and uncertainties associated with different areas of rapid scientific and technological advance - including pharmaceuticals, vaccines, crop biotechnology, and nanotechnology.

These are all areas where rapid developments in science and technology are seen as key to economic growth, nationally and in the global economy. Yet, as new technologies are delivered in diverse settings, with different local needs and policy priorities, so a range of risks, uncertainties, ambiguities and indeed areas of ignorance arise.

This project will explore the diverse ways that corporations, state agencies, scientific institutions, farmers and consumers understand and seek to respond to such incertitude, how their responses interact, and the implications for Sustainability.

Through both focused case studies (e.g. of genetically-modified crops) and through a wider series of exchange visits and joint workshops between researchers and practitioners from India and the UK supported by a grant from the UK-India Education and Research Initiative, the project will seek to build a more deliberative and reflexive approach to considering different options for addressing uncertainties.

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The Knowledge Society Debates

Find out more about the events we are holding in Hyderabad, Bangalore and Delhi from 5th-13th January 2009

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STEPS members working on this project

• Esha Shah, Convenor
• Erik Millstone Research Fellow

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STEPS partners on this project

• Indian Instiute of Management-Bangalore
  Rajeev Gowda Professor in Economics and Social Sciences at IIMB, India
  

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Related research & events

• Technology and Ethical Idealism: A History of Development in the Netherlands East Indies, by Suzanne Moon. Suzanne's new book traces the interplay of colonial politics with the technical practices of development taking place in the fields of Javanese farmers.

• Atlas of Ideas: Innovation in India seminar (pdf 148KB)

  The STEPS Centre and its partners, the Indian Institute of Management-Bangalore and Demos, held a joint seminar on November 19 2007 with panellists from Monsanto, Accenture, Mindtree, Bang!Design and more.

• Esha Shah blogs on a sentimental European response to the hyphenated twins 'India-China'
• Esha Shah blogs on risk, uncertainty and regulation issues hitting the headlines in India
• Reframing Resilience The STEPS Centre's theme in 2008 is resilience; engaging with resilience thinking and exploring practical implications for policy in agriculture, water, peri-urban dynamics, epidemics and regulation.

 

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