Nanotech Workshop 2009
The workshop, held at the Royal Society of New Zealand rooms on 23rd & 24th April, brought together a diverse group of people to
- raise awareness of opportunities and challenges that nanotechnologies are creating
- identify what are the most important nanotechnology-related issues for New Zealand, and
- discuss appropriate ways to address them.
The workshop is viewed as the beginning of a set of discussions and other activities to help the country become better prepared to develop, use and manage nanotechnologies.
A summary report of the outcomes of the workshop is now available [PDF, 227KB].
An evaluation of the workshop [PDF, 341KB] was commissioned by the Ministry for the Environment and prepared by Bruce Small and Erin Smith from AgResearch.
November 2009 Update
The "Nanotechnology - Here and Now" workshop report has been sent to various Ministers, including the Prime Minister. As a follow-up to the workshop the following actions were agreed or have been undertaken by government agencies:
- MoRST is the lead government agency for maintaining an overview of nanotechnology issues. There is no plan to set up an "Office of Nanotechnology", but MoRST will continue to monitor nanotechnology developments and coordinate policy across government. As part of this role MoRST will take over chairing the nanotechnology regulators group (previously run by MfE). This group meets approximately every 2 months to discuss regulatory matters relating to nanotechnology.
- MoRST met with representatives of the Foundation for Research, Science & Technology to debrief them on the workshop, and the strong interest expressed at the workshop to support research into potential social and environmental impacts of manufactured nanomaterials.
- Regulatory agencies are contacting some relevant industry organisations to inform them of current requirements with respect to products that may contain manufactured nanomaterials, and putting additional information on their websites where appropriate.
- MoRST is commissioning a study to review New Zealand's regulatory landscape with respect to nanotechnologies. This will result in a report similar to the one undertaken in Australia [PDF, 881KB], identifying potential regulatory gaps or weaknesses. The report is expected to be completed by July 2010.
MoRST will consider organising another workshop in the second half of 2010 to review progress on issues identified at the 2009 workshop and identify priorities for further work.
Speakers and participants
At the April workshop a range of New Zealand speakers helped focus the discussion onto what are important factors that New Zealand needs to consider with respect to responsible development and use of nanotechnologies.
New Zealand participants were drawn from the nanotech research community, environmental scientists, social researchers, representatives from Maori groups, firms interested in nanoscience and nanotechnologies, civil society organisations, policy makers and regulators.
Presentations
International speakers participated by video links.
Professor Richard Jones is Professor of Physics at the University of Sheffield, also Senior Strategic Advisor for Nanotechnology for the UK's Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council - Professor Jones' presentation [PDF, 712KB] discussed some of the opportunities created by nanotechnologies as well as initiatives to engage communities in decision making about nanotechnologies.
Chris Hartshorn is Research Director at Lux Research, a company that provides strategic advice and on-going intelligence on emerging technologies for businesses. Chris talked about [PDF, 1,099KB] recent and current trends in the commercialisation of nanotechnologies.
Thomas Webler is Social and Environmental Research Institute, Massachusets, USA. Tom talked about [PDF, 470KB] what makes for good governance of risks.
Professor Dave Guston Arizona State University. Professor Guston is Associate Director of the Consortium for Science, Policy & Outcomes at ASU and talked about [PDF, 676KB] anticipatory governance and how public values can influence research directions.
Professor Arie Rip is University of Twente, the Netherlands. Professor Rip reminded us [PDF, 855KB] of the social political context that new technologies operate within and that a range of approaches will be required to effectively address some of the challenges that nanotechnologies present.
Professor Ken Donaldson is Scientific Director of the “Lung and the Environment Group Initiative” at Edinburgh University. Professor Donaldson talked about [PDF, 1,764KB] using existing knowledge on the adverse effects of inhaling particles to help identify key risks associated with inhaling nanoparticles.
Professor Andy Stirling, Science and Technology Policy Research Unit, University of Sussex. Andy gave an earlier presentation [PDF, 450KB] at MoRST on the benefits to opening up science policy making to a broader range of views and perspectives.
This 17 minute video provides a flavour of the workshop. It includes portions of the presentations from four of the workshop's invited speakers (Professor Richard Jones, Professor Dave Guston, Thomas Webler, and Professor Ari Rip), along with scenes from some of the discussions that occurred during the workshop and interviews with some of the attendees. A fuller report on the workshop is also available on this web page. Complete video recordings of speakers presentations are available from MoRST.
