Industry/Private Sector

Private sector research and development is key to how nanotechnology will be understood, applied and regulated in the US over the coming years. In recognition of the important role that industry plays in nanotechnology, outreach and engagement with the private sector has been a priority area for CNS-ASU.

The CNS-ASU workshop "Nanotechnology, Business and Anticipatory Governance" was convened as a part of this program of activities, and was an opportunity for participants from nanotechnology-oriented business, law, NGOs and policy outfits to inform the research that CNS-ASU carries out, as well as to hear about some of the relevant work CNS-ASU undertakes in communicating the societal dimensions of nanotechnology.

As a result of that conference, members of the Institute for the Future have collaborated on joint research proposals with CNS-ASU researchers and a number of local nano-oriented businesses. Key partners from these collaborations have also been interviewed for CNS-ASU research. These short interviews with a number of workshop participants around private sector perspectives on responsible development and anticipatory governance are available online. The 2012 Emerge conference also say a number of private-sector experts from firms such as Intel, the Near Future Laboratory and LightWorks, participate in activities that were created to "redesign the future."

In addition to our research partnerships, a second focus area has been to study the nanotechnology industry itself, in order to understand economic and other factors that influence nanotechnology R&D. Find out more about these activities under RTTA 4/3: Integration Policy Studies.