Towards an integrated technology management across the rail supply chain extended to society: building the case study on high-speed trains

The present paper was prepared for the course “Project III”, with the supervision of Prof. António Moniz, reporting on the author speaking notes at the Winter School on Technology Assessment, 6-7 December 2010, as part of the Doctoral Programme on Technology Assessment at FCT-UNL.

The railway industry is pushing for market uptake of research for better and competitive products and services as resulted from the workshop of the European Railway Advisory Council held this year 2010. What seems less considered by the industry concerns is however the new paradigm resulting from the financial crisis from 2008 and, as important, the increasing exposure to social movements (this last one the focus of my research). In support, the present paper proposes to develop a scientific based methodology driven from technology assessment (TA) that manages research results within society. In a first instance such exercise should be limited to a specific technology in railways as it can be the High Speed (HS) train and the technologies it embeds. The high-speed trains integrate the most advanced technologies in the sector and represent billions of Euros of public investment, greater than for conventional lines. The expected impacts are to integrate the technology effort of all parties extended to society from early stage of design to latter market entry. This increases the rail industry competitiveness, enhances innovative technologies, and improves predictability of future social conditions while decrease risks of market failure.

António Brandão Moniz (FCT-UNL) e Rosário Macário (IST-UTL)