Technology plays a crucial role in realising the sustainable development goals of India. In this context, the government has introduced various policies to support the indigenous development of technology and strengthen collaborations with foreign entities for technology sourcing and development. Time averaging of technology impacts has shown improvements in livelihoods, comfort, economy, and health. However, the advent of technology does come with some negative impacts.
Therefore, to achieve its development goals, India needs to identify technologies and products that are sustainable, bring positive socio-economic growth, and adhere to the principles of circularity. Selection considerations must weigh the impact of technologies on the environment and available natural resources. Therefore, to aid the assessment and selection of various technologies, CSTEP has developed the technology assessment framework (TAF) 2.0, which consists of both qualitative and quantitative components.
The framework proposes to use six performance criteria—technical impact, economic impact, resource availability, policy and regulatory, social impact, and environmental impact to evaluate the selection of any technology. In addition, a risk assessment will be performed to analyse the risks associated with a particular technology. To facilitate the performance assessment of technology, these criteria are further simplified into suitable metrics and assigned measurable units.
The TAF 2.0 can be useful for making informed decisions pertaining to the adoption and feasibility of technologies of interest.
Read the first edition of this series here: Technology Assessment Framework: Methodology Note
