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Contents

•  Christmas Greeting
  
•  forthcoming Nanobio-RAISE events
  
•  news
•  publications
• selected conferences

Christmas Greeting 

First of all we like to wish you a very merry Christmas and a very happy New Year!

On behalf of the Nanobio-Raise team, David, Daan, Susanne and Elly

Forthcoming Nanobio-RAISE events

There are still some places left for:

1st Advanced Course on Strategic Communication and Applied Ethics in Nanobiotechnology, 11-16 March 2007, St Edmund Hall, Oxford, UK

This five-day Advanced Course for nanobiotechnologists will enable the participants to carry out a wide variety of public communication activities discussing the social and ethical implications of their work with confidence. The programme provides leading experts in public affairs and communication, bioethics, risk assessment and regulatory affairs in the field of nanobiotechnology. Participants will be trained in writing, speaking, debating, preparing communication plans and ethical case studies applied to the various fields of nanobiotechnology.
Please see the Course Programme for further information.

Minutes

The Nanobio-RAISE Second Steering Group Meeting has been held on 10 December 2006 in Frankfurt. During this successful meeting the project partners discussed the projects progress and onward planning for the second year with a view to requesting the Commission to extend of the project for a further six months or a year to communicate its results as effectively as possible to gain maximum impact. The minutes of the meeting will soon be available on the website.

Workshop

The Second Horizon Scanning Workshop on 'Nanotechnology in food and Environment - ethical and societal issues' will be held 19-20 March 2007 at DECHEMA in Frankfurt am Mainz. Please don't hesitate to contact us if you would like to know more. Attendance is by invitation.

News

EC (Source 29-11-06 Cordis Nanotechnology homepage)

The European Commision has published its third report on the economic development of nanotechnology. After the two earlier reports "Some figures about nanotechnology R&D in Europe and beyond", published in December 2005 and "Results of the informal collection of inputs for nanotechnology R&D in the field of (eco) toxicology", published in June 2006, this article analyses the economic development of nanotechnology.

The present analyses are based on indicators of the economic development of nanotechnology that can be publicly accessed. A focus has been put on the analysis of Europe compared to its main competitors.

For the full report follow this link:
ftp://ftp.cordis.europa.eu/pub/nanotechnology/docs/nanoarticle_hullmann_nov2006.pdf

TA-SWISS Citizens' Survey: Lay thinking about nanotechnologies and what follows from it (18-12-06, Alpha Galileo)

Citizens are critically positive in their attitudes to nanotechnology. This is shown by a survey carried out by TA-SWISS, the Centre for Technology Assessment. The potential benefits for medicine, the environment and life’s amenities are today held in high regard. But most people say they are unwilling to buy nanotech products unquestioningly. Information and declaration are important to them.

In Switzerland today, there are no signs of a hardening of attitudes towards nanotechnologies. These new technologies are arousing high hopes and economic expectations. Even the sceptics do not rule out the possibility that nanotech research could in the future provide solutions for major problems in medicine and in the field of ecology. Independent research organisations in particular enjoy substantial support among those included in the survey. Their work should be allowed to continue without hindrance.

For further reading please follow this link:
http://www.ta-swiss.ch/a/nano_pfna/2006_TAP8_Nanotechnologien_e.pdf

Publications

Environmental, Health and Safety Implications of Nanotechnology

This report describes an urgent need to chart a more aggressive course when it comes to answering such questions. Nanotechnology promises profound innovations in fields like medicine, energy, information technology, transportation, and environmental protection, allowing the creation of materials with unique and novel properties. However, questions arise about its implications on the environment and for the health and safety of workers and consumers.

http://www.icfi.com/markets/environment/doc_files/nanotechnology.pdf

OECD, Current Developments/ Activities on the Safety of Manufactured Nanomaterials

This document provides information on current or planned activities related to the safety of manufactured nanomaterials in OECD member countries.  This information was provided as written reports by delegations who participated in the 1st Meeting of OECD's Working Party on Manufactured Nanomaterials (WPMN).  There are also written reports on relevant current activities in other International Organisations such as the UNESCO and the ISO.

http://appli1.oecd.org/olis/2006doc.nsf/linkto/env-jm-mono(2006)35

Safety, Risk and Regulation of Engineered Nanoparticles, Innovation Society, Oct 2006

This report describes the contents and results of the second international “Nano-Regulation” conference which took place from 13-14 September 2005 in St. Gallen. The conference was organised by the Innovation Society in cooperation with NanoEurope exhibition and fair. It was focussing on scientific and societal aspects of safety, risk and regulation aspects of engineered nanoparticles.

The following topics were highlighted:

• Health, safety and environment protection
• Best practises in handling and use of nanomaterials
• Trends and developments in international legislation and regulations of nanomaterials
• Communication, information and risk governance

http://www.innovationsgesellschaft.ch/images/publikationen/Schlussbericht5.pdf

Nanotechnology Infrastructure in China

China is currently in the process of constructing centers for the exploitation of nanotechnology in Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, and elsewhere. This report introduces some of the influential scientists who are involved in heading these centers, and their views on nanotechnology in China are briefly presented in an interview format. With the completion of these new centers, which is scheduled to be in the near future, China will have the infrastructure in place to begin challenging the West’s lead in the field of nanotechnology.

http://www.atip.org/pubs/reports/atip06.046r.pdf

Selected conferences

18 Januari 2007         Nanotechnology for security and Crime Prevention, Royal Society, London, UK
                                     http://www.nano.org.uk/
5 Februari 2007          Final Event Nanodialogue, Brussels, Belgium
                                     http://www.nanodialogue.org/
11-16 March 2007     1st Advanced Course on Strategic Communication and Applied Ethics in Nanobiotechnology, Oxford, UK
19-20 March 2007   The Second Horizon Scanning Workshop on 'Nanotechnology in food and Environment - ethical and societal issues', DECHEMA, Frankfurt am Mainz, Germany

For further details on these and other events, please see: www.nanobio-raise.org/events