French Presidency of EPTA
30^th Anniversary of OPECST

2015, an important year for OPECST

In 2015, OPECST is chairing EPTA (European Parliamentary Technology Assessment), the network that regroups the organisations providing technology assessment to parliaments in Europe, and celebrates the 30th anniversary of its first report.

A meeting of the directors of EPTA member organisations has been held from April 27th to April 29th in Pont à Mousson. This was an opportunity to compare how every member organization sets its priorities and to discover the dynamism and the ambitions of innovative enterprises in Lorraine, thanks to a visit in their compound.

The EPTA Council will meet on September 23rd and 24th which will coincide with the celebration of OPECST's 30th anniversary. A conference on “Innovation and Climate change: the role of scientific and technological assessment” will be organized, a few months prior to the COP 21. OPECST and EPTA members will debate with the chairpersons of parliamentary committees in charge of science and technology in member states of the European Economic Space.

This conference, attended also by the members of the OPECST Scientific Council, and by representatives of scientific Academies and main French research organisms and NGOs, will constitute an important part of this 30th anniversary.

It will provide an illustration of OPECST work method, based on systematic international comparisons, so that its rapporteurs can benefit from foreign experiences to draw recommendations enriched by new perspectives on questions that are debated in France.

I am looking forward to these various meetings with great interest.

Jean-Yves Le Déaut

President of OPECST and of EPTA