Nanotechnologies for Tomorrow's Society: A Case for Reflective Action Research in Flanders, Belgium
Nanotechnologies for Tomorrow's Society: A Case for Reflective Action Research in Flanders, Belgium
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DOI:
10.1007/978-1-4020-8416-4_14
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发表时间:
2008-01-01
期刊:
影响因子:
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通讯作者:
Deblonde, Marian
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文献类型:
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作者:
Goorden, Lieve;van Oudheusden, Michiel;Deblonde, Marian
Policy makers involved in innovation policy and scientists working on newly emerging technologies such as nanotechnologies, are confronted with three considerable challenges: a lack of distinct indicating directions of possible applications (strategic uncertainty), a lack of scientific knowledge (complexity), and the ambiguous reception of new developments in society. In this climate of uncertainty and ambiguity it is by no means clear for the actors involved how to innovate purposefully and constructively. From this post-modern perspective of swift evolutions and massive uncertainties in research and development, promoters of science and technology have had to give up the idea that predicting one or the probable future is possible because only one path inevitably leads to that future. Even the idea that several plausible paths are to be explored out of which we can somehow choose the most desirable, must be abandoned, given the assumption that we have to conceive the future as indeterminate (Dupuy 2004). Written from the perspective of a researcher in 2015 examining the current state of nanotechnology, the scenarios point out what the key concerns are and the pathway that led to that point. In that perspective, it is not any longer a matter of predicting or choosing a future, but rather of collectively building and shaping one. In response to this new reality and the challenges that arise from its dynamic, the Flemish interdisciplinary research project “Nanotechnologies for Tomorrow’s Society”(NanoSoc) engages innovation networks where each actor contributes his/her (incomplete) views and perspectives and confronts them with those of others. The project brings together nanotechnologists, natural and social scientists, stakeholders, and citizens in the region of Flanders, Belgium, to discuss and steer future nanotech developments in three particular fields of nanotechnology development: smart environment, bio on chip, and new materials. This article first discusses the main challenges in innovating successfully with nanotechnologies and then elaborates on how NanoSoc seeks to effectively address these issues through interdisciplinary reflective action research.