One can categorize technology policies based on the problems they are trying to solve and the length of time necessary for the technologies' development. Many technology policies try to solve current problems with already or soon-to-be available technologies, such as cleaning up certain kinds of pollution. These problems are well defined and the parameters of the relevant technology are also well known. A second type of policy still focuses on current problems but needs technologies that will require years or decades for their development. In this case, most authoritative actors have a mutually shared understanding of the problem, making it well defined, although that understanding might change over time. The uncertainty lies in the technology itself, since it may take any of several different forms in its development. An example would be biomedical R&D, such as that focused on cancer. Cancer comprises a current problem, with a widely shared set of ideas about it and well-established sets of institutions and interests involved in its diagnosis, treatment, R&D, and so on. However, the technologies that one needs to cure or prevent cancer are highly uncertain, with scientists pursuing many different possible avenues of research. Cancer is actually an umbrella term for a wide diversity of related diseases, which will no doubt require a diversity of treatments, making the technological future even more uncertain.

The third and most future-oriented type of technology policy seeks to solve an anticipated future problem, and do so with technologies that still require considerable development.