Technology Policy Makers Research Articles

Dark web and internet freedom: navigating the duality to facilitate digital democracy

ABSTRACT Internet freedom and the dark web are complex concepts riddled with misunderstanding. While the dark web is perceived as a negative space/state, internet freedom is seen as a positive space/state that many Western nations support. However, in practice, these perceptions are incomplete and overlook the close relationship between the tools and infrastructure that facilitate both the dark web and internet freedom. While the term dark web engenders fear and curiosity in the public and policymakers’ minds, the term internet freedom fails to describe the modern internet in a manner for effective governance to protect and empower citizens. Reframing how policymakers and the general public understand these terms will be essential for ensuring that future policies are effective, comprehensive and strive to facilitate digital democracy. This paper represents an extension of knowledge and a first step in technological policymaking by analysing and emphasising the relationship and duality between the dark web and internet freedom and their stakeholders from the cyberinfrastructure perspective. Furthermore, we propose new framing definitions for anonymous technology tools in the interest of facilitating digital democracy. We conclude by suggesting how to effectively integrate the redefined terminology into the framework of policy creation.

Artificial Intelligence: Opportunities and Challenges for Public Administration

AbstractArtificial intelligence (AI) could be at the heart of a fourth revolution by significantly changing professional identity, relationships between individuals and resource management. To help public administration practitioners and researchers cope with changes anticipated by AI, this research note maps existing conceptual approaches on the opportunities and challenges of AI in public administration and proposes a conceptual framework and initiatives that can inform and support effective, public interest‐oriented technology policymaking. This research note outlines a potential research agenda, with multi‐level opportunities and challenges, to accelerate this critical work.

Technology Foresight Index to Support Science and Technology Policy-Making in the Field of Pharmacology/Pharmacy: A Scientometric Analysis

Technology Foresight Index to Support Science and Technology Policy-Making in the Field of Pharmacology/Pharmacy: A Scientometric Analysis

Structural equation modeling for identifying the drivers of health-related quality of life improvement experienced by patients with migraine receiving eptinezumab

BackgroundAs new migraine therapies emerge, it is crucial for measures to capture the complexities of health-related quality of life (HRQoL) improvement beyond improvements in monthly migraine day (MMD) reduction. Investigations into the correlations between MMD reduction, symptom management, and HRQoL are lacking, particularly those that focus on improvements in canonical symptoms and improvement in patient-identified most-bothersome symptoms (PI-MBS), in patients treated with eptinezumab. This exploratory analysis identified efficacy measures mediating the effect of eptinezumab on HRQoL improvements in patients with migraine.MethodsData from the DELIVER study of patients with 2–4 prior preventive migraine treatment failures (NCT04418765) were inputted to two structural equation models describing sources of HRQoL improvement via Migraine-Specific Quality-of-Life Questionnaire (MSQ) scores. A single latent variable was defined to represent HRQoL and describe the sources of HRQoL in DELIVER. One model included all migraine symptoms while the second model included the PI-MBS as the only migraine symptom. Mediating variables capturing different aspects of efficacy included MMDs, other canonical symptoms, and PI-MBS.ResultsIn the first model, reductions in MMDs and other canonical symptoms accounted for 35% (standardized effect size [SES] − 0.11) and 25% (SES − 0.08) of HRQoL improvement, respectively, with 41% (SES − 0.13) of improvement comprising “direct treatment effect,” i.e., unexplained by mediators. In the second model, substantial HRQoL improvement with eptinezumab (86%; SES − 0.26) is due to MMD reduction (17%; SES − 0.05) and change in PI-MBS (69%; SES − 0.21).ConclusionsImprovements in HRQoL experienced by patients treated with eptinezumab can be substantially explained by its effect on migraine frequency and PI-MBS. Therefore, in addition to MMD reduction, healthcare providers should discuss PI-MBS improvements, since this may impact HRQoL. Health technology policymakers should consider implications of these findings in economic evaluation, as they point to alternative measurement of quality-adjusted life years to capture fully treatment benefits in cost-utility analyses.Trial registration ClinicalTrials.gov (Identifier: NCT04418765; EudraCT (Identifier: 2019–004497-25; URL: https://www.clinicaltrialsregister.eu/ctr-search/search?query=2019-004497-25).Graphical

A Cross-Citation-Based Model for Technological Advancement Assessment: Methodology and Application

Assessing technological advancements is crucial for the formulation of science and technology policies and making well-informed investments in the ever-evolving technology market. However, current assessment methods are predominantly geared towards mature technologies, limiting our capacity for a systematic and quantitative evaluation of emerging technologies. Overcoming this challenge is crucial for accurate technology evaluation across various fields and generations. To address this challenge, we present a novel approach that leverages bibliometrics, specifically paper citation networks, to gauge shifts in the flow of knowledge throughout the technological evolution. This method is capable of discerning a wide array of trends in technology development and serves as a highly effective tool for evaluating technological progress. In this paper, we showcase the accuracy and applicability of this approach by applying it to the realm of mobile communication technology. Furthermore, we provide a comparative analysis of its quantitative results with other conventional assessment methods. The practical significance of our model lies in providing a nuanced understanding of emerging technologies within a specific domain, enabling informed decisions, and fostering strategic planning in technology-oriented fields. In terms of originality and value, this model serves as a comprehensive tool for assessing technological progress, quantifying emerging technologies, facilitating the evaluation of diverse technological trajectories, and efficiently informing technology policy-making processes.

Efficient floating offshore wind realization: A comparative legal analysis of France, Norway and the United Kingdom

Floating offshore wind (FOW) has the potential to play a key role in many states' decarbonization policies going forward. The reason is that the majority of the world's wind energy potential is located offshore at depths where deployment of conventional bottom-fixed offshore wind turbines is not economically profitable. To realize FOW's potential as a key decarbonization technology policy makers and legislators must design legal frameworks that properly address the three main barriers to efficient deployment: (a) spatial competition, (b) need for state financing and (c) allocation of grid connection responsibilities. This article analyses and compares Norway, France and the United Kingdom's regulation of the three main barriers to efficient FOW deployment with respect of their ability to ensure efficient realisation. The article concludes with best practices and recommendation to policy makers and legislators on how to regulate the three main barriers to accomplish efficient FOW deployment.

Artificial intelligence: The blind spot of info-communication platform policy-making and regulation in Latin America

The social dimension of artificial intelligence is a strategic line of research that has been barely addressed to date in relation to information and communication technology policy-making. Debates on new expert information systems have generally revolved around taxation, content moderation, security, privacy and transparency, in addition to new forms of assessment that artificial intelligence assumes in platform capitalism. The existing theoretical and regulatory gaps require, however, a comprehensive approach to the economic, political, philosophical, geopolitical and ecological aspects of communication in the relations between states, international bodies and global corporations. Accordingly, the aim here is to review the state of the art of policy-making on artificial intelligence in Latin America as well as to draw a number of parallels with the current situation in the European Union for the purpose of performing an exploratory analysis on the main regulatory challenges facing public policy-makers from a practical and theoretical perspective.

PROVIDING A SOCIAL VALUE CREATION MODEL BASED ON UNIVERSITY SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY (USR)

The purpose of this study was to provide a social value creation model based on the dimensions of university social responsibility. In this model, the supporting literature of the balanced scorecard field is used. In this model, the development of creating value for the beneficiaries follows the triad of: (1) internal processes, (2) academic audiences, and (3) learning and growth. Also, innovation development, organizational development and social learning play key roles in this model. This model is elaborated to developing a road map for science and technology policy makers in the development of university social responsibilities. This research also describes the experience of how to use balanced scorecard method, shows how this method can be used to formulate strategies in the field of social responsibility of universities and what advantages this method has in comparison with other methods of developing cultural and social strategies. The manuscript identifies the strategies of university social responsibility in the dimensions of the balanced scorecard, which is to identify these factors using qualitative method (using snowball method) and quantitative (using appropriate statistical tests). It is used as a mixed method and in the classification of researches based on how to collect data, this research is located in the descriptive research group of the survey and due to the experimental and non-experimental characteristics of the research, the present research method is considered as a non-experimental method.

Ethics in Science and Technology Policy-Making: A Proposed Normative Framework

In the twenty-first century, the focus of science and technology (S&T) on the human interests and the accessible interests of society, and so the rise of some questions concerning the impact of S&T on social norms, has led to embedding ethical debates in S&T policy-making. The ethics of S&T policy-making, as a representation of the relationship between ethics and S&T policy-making, is a relatively new area of applied and professional ethics that addresses the dilemmas and ethical challenges of the S&T policy-making process. Understanding and recognizing the ethical components of S&T policy-making, one can develop a normative framework to assist policymakers in designing and analyzing ethical policies in the S&T field. The design and development of such a framework is the main purpose of the present study. In this study, the components of the proposed framework for ethical policy-making in S&T, their ethical and policy approaches, as well as their fundamental ethical and policy principles have been identified through studying sources and texts related to meta-ethics, normative ethics, and S&T ethics. Then, these components have been categorized in the form of steps for ethical policy-making using the thematic analysis method. Based on the results of this study, the ethical policy-making steps in S&T include problem identification, information gathering and feeding of the policy process, policy advice and policy formulation, policy implementation, and policy evaluation, which follow 9 ethical principles and 13 policy principles.

The dynamics of policy coordination: The case of China’s science and technology policy-making

AbstractThe literature on policy coordination between government agencies reveals little about how coordination is managed in centralized political systems. This paper, therefore, presents a dynamic and quantitative analysis of policy coordination in China based on the science and technology (S&T) policy documents issued by China’s central government agencies in the period 1978–2019. From a series of snapshots depicting inter-agency policy development in five historical stages over this timeframe, we find that (1) policy coordination has developed steadily and has mainly occurred to interpret macro strategies and put in place more detailed implementation measures. (2) Ministries under the purview of the State Council have played a leading role in policy coordination, while other types of agencies have cooperated in more supporting roles. (3) Coordination efforts have mainly focused on inclusive and national demand-oriented themes, such as high-tech industrialization, rural S&T, and social development. This research offers a panoramic view of policy coordination trajectories and mechanisms in centralized political systems. As such, it adds to the analysis methods available for quantitatively studying policy documents.

Applying Multi-Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) in Health Technology Policy Making: Background, Current Challenges, and Path to Future

Introduction: The science of health technology policy-making has, in recent years, gone beyond merely conducting health technology assessment studies, systematic reviews or economic evaluations. In fact, sciences based on decision-making in operational research, such as multi-attribute and multi-objective decision-making methods, have been added to this field.
 Methods: Examining several prominent papers in the field of applying multi-criteria decision analysis to the science of health technology assessment, this study attempts to provide guidance for policy makers in the field of health technologies to acquaint them with the history, current challenges, and the future of this field.
 Results: Mathematical approaches based on multi-criteria decision analysis began to be used in the fields of health policy making and economics in 2006 and 2008. These approaches are still being completed to adapt to the field of health. The main challenges in this regard are the existence of attributes such as equity and ethical issues facing the use of technology in health systems. The quantitative assessment of such attributes is really demanding. It is also very difficult to weight the attributes in such a way that all the considerations regarding technology stakeholders can be taken into account.
 Conclusions: In general, the application of approaches from applied mathematics to the field of health technology policy making can help us clarify the prioritization process. At the same time, however, using the efforts made so far by researchers in this field from around the world, we have, to a large extent, been able to overcome the operational shortcomings in applying those approaches in the field of health.

The Effect of Green Human Resource Management on Employee Eco-Friendly Behaviour, Employee Environment-Friendly Response And Organizational Sustainability: An Empirical Study Concerning IT Industry in Hyderabad Metro

The literature on green human resource management and its impact on employee eco- friendly behaviour, employee environment-friendly response, and organizational sustainability is scarce and rarely explored by researchers. This empirical study reports how an employee's eco-friendly behaviour, employee environment-friendly response through green human resource management enhances the organizational sustainability and employees' green behaviour. Organizational sustainability is a multidimensional concept that embodies social, environmental and economic objectives. The results indicate that green human resource management enhances employee eco-friendly behaviour, and employee environment-friendly response. A statistically significant impact of green human resource management on organizational sustainability was observed. The data were analyzed using the partial least square structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). All three variables are statistically significant and predict organizational sustainability. A structured undisguised questionnaire was used to collect the data for this empirical study, publishing the questionnaire on google forms and providing a link to 5000 information technology employees. The 984 responses received and 924 valid responses were used and subjected to PLS-SEM analysis. This study recommends that the information technology policymakers should consider incorporating green human resource policies for green organizations and promote organizational sustainability.

Understanding AI Application Dynamics in Oil and Gas Supply Chain Management and Development: A Location Perspective

The purpose of this paper is to gain a better understanding of Artificial Intelligence (AI) application dynamics in the oil and gas supply chain. A location perspective is used to explore the opportunities and challenges of specific AI technologies from upstream to downstream of the oil and gas supply chain. A literature review approach is adopted to capture representative research along these locations. This was followed by descriptive and comparative analysis for the reviewed literature. Results from the conducted analysis revealed important insights about AI implementation dynamics in the oil and gas industry. Furthermore, various recommendations for technology managers, policymakers, practitioners, and industry leaders in the oil and gas industry to ensure successful AI implementation were outlined. Doi: 10.28991/HIJ-SP2022-03-01 Full Text: PDF

Exploring the Role of Public Policy in Adapting to the Challenges and Opportunities of Emerging Technologies

This research paper investigates how government policy can be modified to meet the opportunities and threats posed by rapidly developing technologies. This article focuses on Examine how emerging technologies are affecting our democracy, personal lives, economy, and culture. New technology potential benefits and drawbacks are compared, and policy shortcomings and roadblocks are identified. The thesis also examines policy options for regulating emerging technologies like blockchain, cryptocurrencies, and the Internet of Things. The effectiveness and viability of various policy methods are reviewed, and the significance of public participation in technological policy-making is emphasized. The use of digital technologies, citizen juries, collaborative policy-making, education and awareness-raising campaigns, consultations, public hearings, and citizen juries are a few of the methods proposed to promote public participation and engagement in technological policy-making processes. The entire thesis emphasizes the value of proactive and transparent government with reference to technology improvements. Governments may better ensure that new technologies are used in ways that are beneficial for society, the economy, the environment, and everyone's rights and freedoms by allowing citizens to provide input on policy decision.

Scholarly research and user‐centred policy design

Scholarly research and user‐centred policy design

Is Interdisciplinary Collaboration Research More Disruptive Than Monodisciplinary Research?

AbstractAs an important pattern of scientific research, interdisciplinary collaboration is universally encouraged by science and technology policy makers. However, it remains a question whether interdisciplinary collaboration research is more disruptive than monodisciplinary research. To address this research question in this study, interdisciplinary collaboration is measured as whether the authors of a paper are from at least two disciplines, and the degree of “disruptive” is measured by the Disruption index proposed by Funk & Owen‐Smith (2017). By using articles published in six journals from 1978 to 2019 in the Microsoft Academic Graph (MAG) database, we constructed an OLS regression model with journal fixed effect and time fixed effect to analyze the influence of interdisciplinary collaboration on the Disruption values with different citation windows. The findings show that interdisciplinary collaboration research is less disruptive than monodisciplinary research.

The manifestations of digital literacy in social media among Indonesian youth

Digital literacy capability is a must in the era of internet access, especially in the use of social media. All internet users, especially university students, must practice digital literacy. This study aims to found the common forms of university students' digital literacy behavior when using social media. This study uses a mixed-method approach as it consists of data search using a digital literacy scale, an open-ended questionnaire, and interviews with university students in Yogyakarta. The results of this study indicate that respondents with high digital literacy levels conduct a process of evaluating truthful information by checking trusted sources of information directly and discussing their findings with significant others. The likelihood and ability to evaluate information correctly is affected by family background, formal education, and negative hoax impact awareness. The study also found that after respondents perform across (double) checks, they will usually forward the information, also known as doing a repost. This research implies a description of digital literacy behavior carried out by students in Yogyakarta; with this study, digital literacy behavior expects to provide an overview of information technology policymakers.

A technology portfolio optimization model considering staged financing and moratorium period under uncertainty

Technology commercialization needs a large amount of financial resources and governments in developed and developing countries play a critical role in resource allocation to the technology commercialization, especially through “Technology Development Funds (TDFs)”. But, because of resource limitations, determining high priority technologies with higher impact on the country’s innovative performance and the optimal resource allocation to technology development is very important for science and technology policymakers. “Technology portfolio planning” has been developed and applied in this regard. Accordingly, a two-phase decision-making framework has been proposed. At the first phase, the priorities of technology fields are determined by using the best-worst method (BWM) and at the second phase, a two-stage stochastic technology portfolio planning model is developed by considering technological projects’ risks and export market, as one of the important factor in the “Global Innovation Index” (GII) ranking. It also has been considered technology fields’ priorities, staged-financing, moratorium period, reinvestment strategy, and technology readiness levels (TRL) in allocating financial resources to technological projects The main advantages of our proposed model are considering uncertainty and early signaling about under performing technological projects Due to the uncertain nature of the problem, our solution methodology is based on the Sample Average Approximation (SAA). In order to demonstrate the applicability of this model, a real case study and its computational results are presented.

Mapping of a science and technology policy network based on social network analysis

PURPOSE: The main purpose of this paper is to define a science and technology policy network in the form of a social network, from the perspective of policy documents, and then analyze it using the social networks analysis (SNA) method. METHODOLOGY: As a case study, the science and technology policymaking network in Iran is analyzed using the suggested framework in this research. The data used in this study were collected through the content analysis of 25 policy documents and an interview with 20 Iranian science and technology policy elites, before being interpreted using the social network analysis method and software such as NetDraw and UCINet. FINDINGS: The most pivotal science and technology policymaking institutions in Iran and the interactions between them were determined from the network viewpoint. This was achieved by performing a two-dimensional core-periphery analysis, identifying the cut points and blocks, and measuring the structural power of each institution using the degree centrality, closeness centrality, and betweenness centrality methods. IMPLICATIONS FOR THEORY AND PRACTICE: The most important practical implications of this research are: the integration of a number of policymaking institutions, the division of clear and precise work between policy institutions, the design of vertical and horizontal coordination mechanisms between institutions, the elimination of interferences of some institutions in the tasks of the others, the design of complementary mechanisms to control the role of cutting points, and paying attention to the important activities in the margins of the network. ORIGINALITY AND VALUE: The most important contribution of this research is to develop a framework for studying science and technology policy and then to develop a method for studying science and technology policy based on SNA. Therefore, the framework for studying science and technology policy in a cycle consists of three stages: 1- Agenda setting and prioritization (at two levels of mega policies and meta policies); 2- Design and implementation or executive policies (in three parts: demand-side policies, supply-side policies, and networking and interconnection infrastructure policies); 3- evaluation and policy learning.

A Model for Determining the Number of Health Technologies in the Health Systems: An Approach Combining Multiple Attributes Decision Making and Goal Programming

In recent years, health technology policy-making science has gone beyond just a health technology assessment or systematic review or economic evaluation study and the science of operational research in decision making, i.e. multi-attributes and multi-objective decision-making has been included. Hence, currently, health technology policy-making follows a seven-step process. After a technology undergoes these steps and is proven that it is useful for the health system, it must be determined how many of it is needed in the health system. Determining the required number of health technologies is a challenge that remains to be considered. Therefore, this study was designed to overcome this problem. The authors intend to introduce a multi-objective decision-making methodology considering the limited budget, to determine the number of technologies required to complete for the health technology policymaking cycle.