Abstract

There is an observed exponential technological capability of society resulting from digitalisation. BlablaCarsharing"br" in a short time impacted SNCF high-speed trains service. Are railways ready to embed new societal actors"br" in their value chain? Our study reveals that despite this industry strategic intents it lacks formal practices allowing"br" reciprocal knowledge exchanges to occur throughout the technology development process. Therefore, missing the"br" opportunity to add value from society. This way, by recurring to constructive technology assessment theory, we"br" propose a set of measures to be considered by the sector collectively under the scope of Shift2Rail. They center in"br" ensuring that reciprocal knowledge exchanges occur. Initially in shared future visions and later within"br" technological research projects. Through curated events, safeguarding a minimal risk for the industry, paying"br" attention to tailoring knowledge exchanges to the respective technology readiness level and relying on a thirdparty"br" orchestration provided by technology assessment practitioners.