The Business and Industry Advisory Committee’s Expert Group on Nanotechnology recently issued a "vision paper" with the above title, with the goal of identifying "stategic priorities from the perspectice of the OECD Business Community. It is meant to serve as a guidance to both the private and public sectors" in achieving further development of nanotechnology. In particular, the report focuses on six areas that BIAC believe should be considered in present and future debates:
1 Energy
2 Food and agriculture
3 Healthcare
4 Water Treatment
5 Information and communications
6 Pollution remediation
The report also considers "some of the key issues that will incresingly affect nanotechnology development in coming years":
1 Environmental, health & safety issues
2 Responsible development
3 Human resources (training and education would have been a better way of putting it)
4 Intellectual property and patent protection
5 Marketing & Consumer issues – public trust
The report concludes with BIAC urging that OECD address priority areas ranging from the development of standardized hazard and risk assessment procedures to an assessment of public attitudes towards nanotechnology and nanomaterials. In its nine pages, the report attempts to cover a great deal of ground, in some six areas a bit more in detail than in others, but it does serve as a good place to start future discussions. The report may be accessed at http://www.biac.org/news/90204_nanotech_vision_paper.htm
