 Honest but broke: The dilemma of universities acting as honest brokersStefan Andereggen, Moritz Vischer and Roman Boutellier Technology in Society, 2012, vol. 34, issue 2, 118-126 Abstract: Universities and government research organizations (GROs) are increasingly being thrust into the role of an honest broker. They gather scientific data on technical, social and economic issues and present potential policies and courses of action to interested parties. However, they must remain unbiased at all times, whilst offering expertise in a wide range of subjects, especially in areas concerning controversial technologies. In this article we argue that today's science funding paradigms make universities and GROs increasingly vulnerable in their role as honest brokers in society. We exemplify our arguments with a descriptive case study surrounding Swiss nuclear energy research, which offers insights into past and current funding strategies. Dedicated funding strategies, such as funding professorships or technology platforms that allow honest brokers to safeguard their integrity and conduct research in controversial areas are presented and discussed. Keywords: University–industry relationship; Research integrity; Public perception; Risk management; Controversial technologies; Industry funding (search for similar items in EconPapers) Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:teinso:v:34:y:2012:i:2:p:118-126 DOI: 10.1016/j.techsoc.2012.02.005 Access Statistics for this article Technology in Society is currently edited by Charla Griffy-Brown More articles in Technology in Society from Elsevier |
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