The exploration of ways to conceptualize the shaping of the present by sociotechnical futures is the aim of this volume. Therefore it brings together contributions from Science and Technology Studies and Technology Assessment, which focus all on the question how socio-technical images of the future shape present processes of innovation and transformation starting from empirical case studies and generalizing specific findings or by tackling conceptual questions from the outset. A white paper of 23 authors, which aims to sensitize researchers and practitioners completes the volume.

Andreas Lösch is senior research scientist at the Institute for Technology Assessment and Systems Analysis (ITAS) and private lecturer for sociology at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT).Armin Grunwald is director of the Institute for Technology Assessment and Systems Analysis (ITAS), full professor of philosophy and ethics of technology at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) and heads the Office of Technology Assessment at the German Bundestag (TAB).Martin Meister is a research associate at the Department of Sociology, Chair on Sociology of Technology and Innovation at Technical University of Berlin.Ingo Schulz-Schaeffer is full professor of sociology and head of the sociology of technology and innovation group at the Department of Sociology at Technical University of Berlin.

Introduction: Sociotechnical futures shaping the present.- Part I: Analytical concepts, different kinds and patterns of socio-technical futures.- Part II: Socio-technical futures in different processes of change.- Part III: Intervening into the present through prospective reasoning.- Part IV: White paper on technology assessment and socio-technical futures.- Contributors.