Nanotechnology
A particular concern of IRGC is that the opportunities flowing from new technologies and innovations – particularly when these technologies have the capacity to alleviate major global concerns – are not forgone due to inadequate or inappropriate risk governance, including poor communication. Nanotechnology is an important and rapidly growing field of scientific and practical innovation that will fundamentally transform our understanding of how materials and devices interact with human and natural environments. These transformations may offer great benefits to society such as improvements in medical diagnostics and treatments, water and air pollution monitoring, solar photovoltaic energy, water and waste treatment systems, and many others. The transformations may also pose serious risks. The social, economic, political and ethical implications are significant. Nanotechnology raises issues that are more complex and far-reaching than many other innovations and poses significant challenges to risk governance structures and processes.
IRGC first addressed the risk governance of nanotechnology in a project which began in early 2005. Using the IRGC’s risk governance framework as a conceptual starting point and with the contributions of experts at two technical workshops, the project team analysed the technology’s benefits and the associated risks, identified deficits in risk governance structures and processes and developed recommendations for overcoming these deficits. In the course of the project IRGC developed a generic framework for the global risk governance of nanotechnology.
A summary of the project and its recommendations and downloads of all the materials developed during it, including IRGC’s White Paper "Nanotechnology Risk Governance" and the Policy Brief in which we summarise our concluding recommendations, are available on our website (or upon request).
IRGC is extremely grateful to the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, the Swiss Reinsurance Company (Swiss Re), the US Environmental Protection Agency and Department of State, for their financial support to this project, as well as the Swiss Re Centre for Global Dialogue for hosting two major project events. We also thank the many organisations and individuals whose participation in the two expert workshops held in 2005 and 2006, as well as the conference held in July 2006, contributed so much to the development of the risk governance recommendations published in our White Paper and Policy Brief.
Total project costs were CHF 457,000 CHF.
For more information about this project, please contact Malin Samuelsson