Constructing Productive Engagement: Pre-engagement Tools for Emerging Technologies

Engagement with stakeholders and civil society is increasingly important for new scientific and technological developments. Preparation of such engagements sets the stage for engagement activities and thus contributes to their outcomes. This article discusses how understanding of the emerging science and technology and its dynamics is an important part of this preparation process, and looks at how multi-level analysis and socio-technical scenarios are two complementary tools for constructive engagement activities. The authors look at how examination of the emergence of nanotechnologies in the food packaging sector demonstrates how these tools work.