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Governance, Innovation & Change

Technology

lead-authors: [Name] contributors: [Names] reviewers: [Names] version: 0.3 updated: 25 March 2026 sensitivity: low status: draft ai-use: Claude Sonnet 4.6 (Anthropic) was used for editorial revision, reference verification, and formatting; reviewed by Vitaliy Soloviy, 17.03.2026

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Technology refers to physical objects, social practices, knowledge, and other artifacts people create, commonly to achieve specific goals.

Why this matters

[To be drafted]

Shared definitions

Technology refers both to physical artefacts and to the social practices that specify how those artefacts can be used. Technological systems can therefore be decomposed into physical components and social components, including institutions.1)

Arthur (2009) distinguishes three senses of the word. The most basic is technology as a means to fulfil a human purpose — a method, process, or device, whether material or non-material, always directed toward human ends. The second is technology as an assemblage of practices and components: collections or toolboxes of individual technologies and practices, which Arthur calls bodies of technology or domains. The third is technology as the entire collection of devices and engineering practices available to a culture.2)

A further conceptual distinction exists between technology and technique. In French, German, and Slavic languages, technique covers all activities associated with things technical, while technologie is more specialised, referring to more advanced stages of technique. English has no real equivalent of technique and uses “technology” to cover what on the Continent would be both technique and technologie.3)

Perspectives

Actors and stakeholders

Technologies and infrastructure

Institutional structures

Distinctions and overlaps

Innovation · Digitalisation · Transitions · Systems · Readiness

Topic notes

Content notes from source material:

  • Three definitions from Arthur (2009) offer a useful conceptual scaffold for the shared definitions section — consider developing each into its own paragraph with a smart grid application.
  • The technique/technology distinction from Salomon (1984) is relevant when the wiki uses both terms — worth preserving as a distinction entry once the section is drafted.
  • Page owner: Klaus Kubeczko.
1)
Kwakkel, J. H., & Pruyt, E. (2013). Exploratory modeling and analysis, an approach for model-based foresight under deep uncertainty. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 80(3), 419–431.
2)
Arthur, W. B. (2009). The nature of technology: What it is and how it evolves. Simon and Schuster.
3)
Salomon, J.-J. (1984). What is technology? The issue of its origins and definitions. History and Technology, 1(2), 113–156. https://doi.org/10.1080/07341518408581618