Schedule

Presenters

Over the past decade, nanotechnology has emerged as a critical area for scientific and commercial development. This has been driven not only by the scientific community and industry, but also by governments around the globe that consider this technological frontier to be crucial to economic growth and national security. The nano race was prominently kicked off with the National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI) authorized by President Clinton in 2000. Seeded with $500 million in 2001, the U.S. government has steadily increased funding and planned to invest more than $1.3 billion in nano research in 2006. Western Europe, Canada, and Japan also invest hundreds of millions of dollars every year. NNI has signaled the importance of social science expertise to these efforts by setting aside more than $40 million in fiscal year 2006 for research on the ethical, legal, and social implications of nanotechnology.

To foster greater collaboration between social scientists and stakeholders in the nanotechnology arena, the Wharton School and the Chemical Heritage Foundation presented a joint symposium to encourage debate about the most productive role of the social sciences in nanotechnology. Social scientists benefited from hearing various nanotechnology stakeholders discuss what research would be most helpful. Stakeholders, in turn, had the opportunity to consider what social scientists can offer in terms of understanding the evolution of technology, technology-in-use, the economics of technical change, risk analysis, and communication.

This conference was generously funded by the Gore Innovation Case Studies Program at the Chemical Heritage Foundation and the William and Phyllis Mack Center for Technological Innovation at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.