Unit:
Κατεύθυνση Ιστορία των Επιστημών και της ΤεχνολογίαςLibrary of the School of Science
Author:
Vakoulas Alexandros
Supervisors info:
Αραποστάθης Ευστάθιος, Επίκουρος Καθηγητής, ΙΦΕ, ΕΚΠΑ
Τύμπας Αριστοτέλης, Καθηγητής, ΙΦΕ, ΕΚΠΑ
Χατζής Αριστείδης, Καθηγητής, ΙΦΕ, ΕΚΠΑ
Original Title:
Διακυβέρνηση και Ρυθμιστική Επιστήμη στις προκλήσεις της Νανοτεχνολογίας: Προσεγγίσεις από το πεδίο Επιστήμη, Τεχνολογία, Κοινωνία
Translated title:
Governance and Regulatory Science on the challenges of Nanotechnology: Approaches from the field of Science, Technology Society
Summary:
The issue this paper will study is the conditions under which nanotechnology and its integration into various technoscientific fields create challenges and demands for the regulation and establishment of a governance framework. Nanotechnology deconstructs the distinction between "chemical", "biological" and "mechanical" processes, which intensifies the challenges and increases the pressure for new categorizations, as well as for new ontological boundaries to be incorporated into new regulatory patterns and frameworks.
In both the United States and Europe, the demand for categorization of materials and definition of scale has been put forth as a claim at both the local, national or state level as well as at the federal and transnational level.
In the USA, in 2001, The National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI) was set up to organize the effort to govern nanotechnology and nanomaterials as they began to be integrated, especially on issues related to new drugs and new food products. The F.D.A. (Food and Drug Administration) has been called upon since the beginning of the 21st century to define and categorize nano-materials used in the production of drugs and biomedical devices. These challenges also concerned Europe, however, in a relatively later and differentiated context.
The research questions that will be inquired and addressed are:
• Under what conditions does nanotechnology change the demand for governance and its framework?
• How do experts conceptualise the terms of risk in relation to nanotechnology and how do they formulate demands for a new regulatory framework?
• What kind of needs for new regulatory science does the integration of nanotechnology cause in the various technological fields?
• What different approaches to the governance of the challenges posed by nanotechnology exist in national and transnational contexts, and how can they be interpreted?
The above research questions will be answered through the study of the context of North America as well as Europe, and specifically of the United States of America and of the European Union. Cases of the incorporation and use of nanotechnology will be analysed, in the individual technoscientific fields of biomedical sciences, as well as materials technology for the chemical industry.
Main subject category:
Science
Keywords:
Nanotechnology, Polcy, Regulatory Science, Governance, Science Technology Society
