Nanotechnology and Sustainable Development

Public institutions, academic researchers and financial analysts among others hail nanotechnologies as one of the most promising sectors of social and economic development. Calculations predict that it will become a trillion euro industry by 2015 and that it will bring about economic change of at least the same magnitude as the industrial revolution. Nanotechnology is recent, younger by some thirty years than biotechnology, but it appears at a point in time in human history where there is a convergence between the globalization of access to information and increasing awareness of the importance of sustainable development. Nanotechnology and Sustainable Development explores the ways in which this convergence leads to a change in the management of innovation – and ultimately a reshaping of technological democracy. The scope of the study is global, with a particular focus on Europe and the United States, utilizing several case studies of stakeholders including entrepreneurs, commentators, end users, scientists, and policy makers.

Claire Auplat (PhD) has worked on the co-industrial and institutional emergence of nanotechnologies for the last decade, firstly at Rice University (USA), then at Sciences Po’s chair of sustainable development (France) and at Imperial College business school (UK), and now at Advancia School of entrepreneurship (France). She is a member of the French National Research Council (ANR) specialist committee on eco-innovation (ECOTECH). Her work on nanotechnologies focuses on public policy, risk perception and management, sustainable development and entrepreneurial dynamics.