Program on Science, Technology and Society at Harvard

Harvard Kennedy School of Government | Harvard University

Les Politiques des Nanotechnologies

September 27, 2011

Since the early 1980’s, Nanotechnology has made it possible to develop technological instrumentation capable of manipulating individual atoms, making a whole new world accessible to human intervention. Today, nanotechnology is commonly used in the production of various consumer products, ranging from cosmetics to food and medical research. Under the banner of “responsible innovation”, programs with generous public support for nanotechnology aspire to take into account health-related, environmental and ethical issues in this emerging field. In this book, Brice Laurent focuses on the political questions brought on by nanotechnology and opens the trail for the renewal of the democratic treatment of these complex scientific innovations.