1. By Sajjad Ahmad Awan PhD
Scholar

2. • Technologies are not a given, but man-made constructs.
They are the products of cultural evolution, with
different definitions, perceptions, and are continuously
evolving in a social context.
• The socio-economic patterns embedded in both the
content of technologies and the processes of innovation
are exposed showing that technology does not develop
according to an inner technical logic but is instead a
social product, patterned by the conditions of its
creation and use.
Sajjad Ahmad Awan PhD Scholar TE DTSC Khushab
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3. Common Information Environment
Society
Cultural
heritage
Education
Sajjad Ahmad Awan PhD Scholar TE DTSC Khushab
Science &
technology
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4. Structural frame: Focuses on
roles and responsibilities,
coordination, and control.
Organization charts help define
this frame.
Human resources frame:
Focuses on providing harmony
between needs of the
organization and needs of
people.
Political frame: Assumes
organizations are coalitions
composed of varied individuals
and interest groups. Conflict
and power are key issues.
Symbolic frame: Focuses on
symbols and meanings related to
events. Culture is important.
Sajjad Ahmad Awan PhD Scholar TE DTSC Khushab
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5. 
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Systemic innovation policy
• enhancing self-organisation through learning and experimenting ......
Orienting innovation towards societal needs
• as a forum for exchange between demand and supply perspective, and
societal value articulation orient innovation towards societal needs and
future users’ demands in an early phase of the innovation trajectory
Agenda setting process
• evoke certain expectations towards a technology and thereby motivate
actors to mobilise resources and invest in certain innovations
Providing anticipatory intelligence
• understanding of dynamics of change based on a diversity of knowledge
sources as a base for future oriented decision making
Sajjad Ahmad Awan PhD Scholar TE DTSC Khushab
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6. 
Social inclusion/widening participation
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Managing diversity
Increasing numbers
Scalable services
Developing the learner community
Developing the workforce/staff
Empowerment
Leadership
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National, regional, local
Across sectors
Across domains
Working with stakeholders
Training & skills
Building partnerships
Sajjad Ahmad Awan PhD Scholar TE DTSC Khushab
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7. 
Training & skills
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Developing the learner community
Developing the workforce/staff
Empowerment
Leadership
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National, regional, local
Across sectors
Across domains
Working with stakeholders
Building partnerships
Sajjad Ahmad Awan PhD Scholar TE DTSC Khushab
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8. 
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New focus: data intensive
New skills (IT)
New disciplines e.g. Astro-informatics
Highly distributed
Collaborative
Virtual communities
Knowledge-rich infrastructures
Increased support for e-Science
Sajjad Ahmad Awan PhD Scholar TE DTSC Khushab
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9. Theoretical Perspectives
 Socio-technical regimes
• variation and selection shaped interplay between various levels of socioeconomic framework
Interpretative flexibility
• Negotiation among social groups with their different interests on
interpretation of new artefacts leads to continuous process of opening
and closing of socio-technical options (Bijker et al)
Heterogeneous engineers
• Actors pursuing alignment of material and social elements within
heterogenous networks (Law & Callon)
Socio-technical Stabilisation
• Emergence of dominant designs: network effects, role of embedding in
infrastucture
Sajjad Ahmad Awan PhD Scholar TE DTSC Khushab
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10. 
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Insights I
Relevance of downstream phase of innovation
• embedding into socio-cultural context as highly
relevant part of innovation.
• co-construction of users and technology;
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Variation constraints
• at the same time design process structured through
embedding into existing framework (e.g. sociotechnical regimes: firm routines, best practice rules etc.
and cultural settings: images of use(rs), perception
Sajjad Ahmad Awan PhD Scholar TE DTSC Khushab
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11. 
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Insights II
Role of visions &Expectations
• Major impact of shared expectations among specific groups of actors
and wider society on technological trajectories
local/universal translations
• The same technology might be incorporated into different sociotechnical patterns in different socio-cultural contexts
• socio-technical patterns that have been developed on a local level need
to be translated before they can feed into universal patterns forming the
structuring regime for again other innovation activities.
Sajjad Ahmad Awan PhD Scholar TE DTSC Khushab
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12. 
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Foresight as process moderator, yes but
• mapping of relevant actors not at all trivial (user side!) involvement of
social scientists needed
Foresight as expectation management, yes but
• linear/narrow visions can be barriers
• need for richness on societal side
• more emphasis on creative elements?
Understanding of dynamics of change, yes but
• need to look at embedding into societal context to describe ‘real world’
technology trajectories relevant for policy
Localisation through Foresight
• relevance of local Foresight even for ‘universal’ technology
Sajjad Ahmad Awan PhD Scholar TE DTSC Khushab
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13. 
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How to feed a holistic socio-technical analysis into a
fragmented policy arena?
How can we go from fostering innovation capability to
orienting innovation towards desired objectives
(sustainability, quality of life ...)?
 should Foresight link up to other instruments such as
strategic niche management et al
Sajjad Ahmad Awan PhD Scholar TE DTSC Khushab
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14. SOME OPEN ISSUES FOR FURTHER
THOUGHT ...
•
How to feed a holistic socio-technical analysis into a
fragmented policy arena?
•
How can we go from fostering innovation capability to
orienting innovation towards desired objectives
(sustainability, quality of life ...)?
– should Foresight link up to other instruments

15. The end
Sajjad Ahmad Awan PhD Scholar TE DTSC Khushab
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