NSEC: Nanotechnology in Society Project-Nano Connection to Society

NanoConnection to Society将完成五项主要任务：NanoEthicsBank的试点开发; NanoEnvironBank的试点开发; NanoConnection.net的概念化; NanoIndicator系列的设计和验证;以及专利流分布研究。 这些任务将提供有关纳米技术的宝贵知识，以帮助决策者，包括公众，就美国如何利用该技术为公民作为雇员和消费者的利益做出基于证据的决定，并适当考虑潜在风险。 他们还将为一个完全可操作的NanoConnection.net奠定基础，该网站将为新的和现有的数据库提供一站式连接和集成（例如，NanoBank.org计划的智力价值是基于在四个领域创造新的知识：（a）关于纳米技术研究和应用中的伦理问题的现有知识的综合和扩展;公司，大学，专业团体和其他组织对这些问题的主动和被动反应;（B）纳米技术对环境、健康、安全和安保影响的现有知识的综合和扩展;（c）记录与纳米技术有关的专利、其发明人在美国境内和各国之间的地理分布水平及其随时间的变化，（d）开发和验证纳米指标对政策、研究和公共信息的经验相关性，其中将涵盖纳米创业和商业化、公众信任、纳米劳动力以及社区和商业化的修辞指标。一套核心的纳米指标将自动化，并保持在近实时的基础上，这一计划的更广泛的影响将来自信息基础设施的创建，这将通知和弥合学科之间存在的知识差距，关于纳米级技术。 这一基础设施将产生新的信息，并改善人们和组织之间的信息流动，有助于满足政策制定和经济投资对纳米技术信息的日益增长的需求，以及实施负责任的纳米技术的有用信息。 这将加强美国的能力，继续领导纳米技术的开发和适当的商业利用，同时考虑到已确定的社会风险和机遇。

NanoConnection to Society will achieve five major tasks: pilot development of NanoEthicsBank; pilot development of NanoEnvironBank; conceptualization of NanoConnection.net; design and validation of NanoIndicator series; and studies of patent flow & distribution. Taken together these tasks will provide valuable knowledge about nanotechnology to help decision-makers, including the general public, make evidence-based decisions on how the US can use the technology for the benefit of citizens as employees and consumers, with appropriate consideration of potential risks. They will also lay the groundwork for a fully operable NanoConnection.net that would provide one-stop connection and integration for the new and existing databases (e.g., NanoBank.org) and many other features to be developed in this project.The intellectual merit of this program is based on the creation of new knowledge in four areas: (a) the synthesis and extension of existing knowledge about ethical issues in nanotechnology research and applications; proactive and reactive responses to these issues by firms, universities, professional groups, and other organizations; and the resilience and responsivity of the system to emergent problems and concerns; (b) the synthesis and extension of existing knowledge about environmental, health, safety, and security impacts of nanotechnology; (c) documentation of the levels and changes over time of the geographic distribution within the US and among countries of nanotechnology-related patents, their inventors, and assignees using innovative measures of the quality of individual patents; and (d) development and validation of the empirical relevance for policy, research, and public information of NanoIndicators which will cover nano-entrepreneurship and commercialization, public trust, nano-workforce, and rhetorical indicators of community and commercialization. A core set of NanoIndicators will be automated and maintained on a near real-time basis.The broader impacts of this program will flow from creation of an information infrastructure, which will inform and bridge the gaps in knowledge that exist among disciplines regarding nano-scale technology. This infrastructure will both produce new information and improve the flow of information among people and organizations, helping to meet the growing demand for information about nanotechnology in policy making and economic investments as well as useful information in implementing responsible nanotechnology. This should strengthen the ability of the United States to continue to lead in developing and making appropriate commercial use of nanotechnology, taking into account identified societal risks and opportunities.