Petra Schaper-Rinkel

The role of Future-oriented technology analysis in the governance of emerging technologies: The

example of nanotechnology

Petra Schaper-Rinkel

AIT Austrian Institute of Technology

The 4th International Seville Conference onFuture-Oriented Technology Analysis (FTA)

12 & 13 May 2011

The role of Future-oriented technology analysis in the governance of emerging technologies: The example of nanotechnology

Background: SuFo – Sustainable Foresight

Impact of foresight / case studies

Case study on nanotechnology


Overview

Approach: Analyzing the role of FTA in the governance of emerging technologies

1. Introduction: FTA and forward looking activities in the governance of emerging technologies

2. FTA in the US

3. FTA in Germany

4. Conclusion: Timing and the involvement of actors

• Leading question:• How are FTA used in the process to address the innovation system

through Emerging Technologies– Addressing sustainability through the governance of emerging

technologies


Introduction

The Role of FTA and forward looking activities in the governance of emerging technologies

• What are the dimensions of the governance of emerging technologies addressed by FTA?

– anticipating and realizing future opportunities and – identifying and reacting to potential risks

• Types of FTA (cf. the list in Rader and Porter 2008).

• Individual visionary thinking– Technology intelligence – Technology forecasting,– Technology roadmapping,– Technology assessment,– Technology foresight

• Dialogues on ethical, legal and social aspects.


The Term Nanotechnology

• Nanotechnology as an emerging technology was established through FTA

• first programmes in the field that was later called nanotechnology in the late 1980s and early 1990s

• in the end of the 1990s:former disconnected fields of nanoscale science and engineering were brought together under a broad definition of nanotechnology

• FTAs were used in the first stages to build up a common understanding of what we today call nanotechnology


USA

Key elements of US future-oriented technology analysis

• In the US, the National Science Foundation (NSF) established first programs dedicated to specific fields in the early 1990s (nanoparticles). From 1997–1998 NSF funded a cross-disciplinary program entitled ‘‘Partnerships in Nanotechnology’’.

• Later in the 1990s FTA were used to bring together different field of later called nanoscale science and technology and to develop a R&D vision for nanotechnology.

• The US National Science and Technology Council conducted a series of studies, including reports of status and trend in Nanotechnology

• The most important one in regard to the future orientation was the IWGN workshop Report on nanotechnology research directions, that included a “Vision for Nanotechnology Research and Development in the Next Decade”

• The vision was developed by NSTC Interagency Working Group on Nanoscience, Engineering, and Technology (IWGN) including members of different government departments and agencies.


USA

Organizations with a Role in the NNI and Their Relationships


USA

Relationships between the Program component areas (PCAs) and the Missions, Interests, and Needs of NNI Agencies

Source: National Nanotechnology InitiativeStrategic Plan (Februar 2011)


USA

NNI Participating Agencies

NNI Participating AgenciesFederal Agencies with Budgets Dedicated to Nanotechnology Research and Development•Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC)•Department of Defense (DOD)•Department of Energy (DOE)•Department of Homeland Security (DHS)•Department of Justice (DOJ)•Department of Transportation (DOT, including the Federal Highway Administration, FHWA)•Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)•Food and Drug Administration (FDA, Department of Health and Human Services)•Forest Service (FS, U.S. Department of Agriculture)•National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)•National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH, Department of Health and Human Services)•National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA, U.S. Department of Agriculture)4•National Institutes of Health (NIH, Department of Health and Human Services)•National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST, Department of Commerce)•National Science Foundation (NSF)

Other Participating Agencies•Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS, Department of Commerce)•Department of Education (DOEd)•Department of Labor (DOL, including the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, OSHA)•Department of State (DOS)•Department of the Treasury (DOTreas)•Intelligence Community (IC)•Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC)•U.S. Geological Survey (USGS, Department of the Interior)•U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC)5•U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO, Department of Commerce)

Source: National Nanotechnology InitiativeStrategic Plan (Februar 2011)


USA: Forward looking activities in 1999 & 2010


Germany

Main actor in the field of nanotechnology • BMBF

• Key elements • Variety of FTA• Since 1990s: technology forecast studies

• Development of Policy networks – expert driven• 1999 Establishment Nano-Competence Center• 1999 Nanotechnology Funding programm• 2003 Technology Assessment of the TAB / German Bundestag• 2003, the BMBF developed a national strategy for future funding and support of

nanotechnology. They focus on the following areas:• Nanofab• NanoforLife• NanoMobil• NanoLux• NanoChem

• 2007 “Nano-Initiative – Action Plan 2010” - part of the high-tech strategy of the German Government “cross-departmental initiative”


Germany

Ministries involved in action plans

“Nano-Initiative – Action Plan 2010”

Federal Ministry for Education and Research (BMBF)

Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs BMAS Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety BMU

Federal Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection BMELV

Federal Ministry of Defence BMVg

Federal Ministry of Health BMG

Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology BMWi

2000 2007 2010

“Action Plan 2015”


1999



Other nano-related activities

Source: Nanokommission 2008


Summery

FTA in the Governance of Nanotechnology: Addressing the national innovation system

– US: • Fostering the cooperation of different government departments & agencies,

industry and academia through FTA • Pooling activities of different actors – from government, industry, and academia -

through an umbrella organization (NNI)• Highly coordinated process of bringing together different FTA

= Recent concept (2010) “Nanotechnology Research Directions for Societal Needs in 2020” refers to concepts and FTA of a broad variety of actors and stakeholders

– Germany: • Fostering cooperation between industry and science build up expert networks by

using FTA• No umbrella organization, that brings together the activities of different ministries

and agencies. • Heterogeneous forms of FTA without coordination

= Recent concept (2010) “Action plan 2015” is focused on the activities of the BMBF to govern Nanotechnology


Scope: Governance of Nanotechnology and related FTA in US and Germany


The future FTA …..

• In the governance of emerging technologies

What is needed:

Foresight technology to bridge the governancce gap between Emerging technologies and Grand Challenges

Petra Schaper-Rinkel

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