Category Archives: Technology Assessment

Is Your Project’s Technology Up to the Job? Our New Draft Tech Readiness Assessment Guide Can Help Answer That

Technology can help solve some of the thorniest problems. But immature tech can create more problems than it solves. NASA, the Department of Defense, and others originally conceived of the idea of “technology readiness assessments” to determine technology maturity—whether the … Continue reading

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Expanding Drinking Water Options

Providing clean and fresh water is one of the most essential municipal services. Recent reports about lead-contaminated drinking water in Flint, Michigan and ongoing drought in several parts of the nation, highlight the importance of ensuring the public has a … Continue reading

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Science and Technology at GAO

Readers of the WatchBlog know that GAO is more than financial audits. Our mission has grown over the years to include performance audits, bid protest adjudication, and other professional services for Congress. And the federal government has also changed. From … Continue reading

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Videos on Freshwater Use in Hydraulic Fracturing and Thermoelectric Power Plants

Freshwater is a limited natural resource that is essential to the nation’s economic security and prosperity—in no small part because of its role in energy production. The nation’s current droughts highlight questions about how to balance water and energy use. … Continue reading

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GAO’s Technology Assessments: 3D Printing

You may be familiar with our traditional reports, testimonies, and legal decisions, but do you know about our technology assessments? Today’s WatchBlog explains them before highlighting our recent look at 3D printing. What are technology assessments?

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Putting Nanomanufacturing in Context

Nanomanufacturing is bringing innovations from research on nanotechnology, the “science of the small,” to commercial markets and mass manufacturing. Nanotechnologies such as targeted chemotherapy (which would limit difficult side effects for cancer patients), or concrete that lasts longer and “heals” … Continue reading

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