The Meridian Institute, a strategic solutions consultancy, is running the Global Dialogue on Nanotechnology and the Poor, a project intended to trigger a conversation about the ways in which nanotechnology can be applied to the problems of development and poverty. Anyone may participate, and I encourage WorldChanging readers to do so. Meridian has prepared a short (29 page) document outlining the key issues in some detail. The Global Dialogue project would prefer if you signed up for the questionnaire prior to downloading the document, but the paper itself encourages broad distribution.
The
Global Dialogue project
is very much a WorldChanging-style discussion:
The goals of the GDNP are to:
Raise awareness about the implications of
nanotechnology for the poor;
Close the gaps within and between sectors of society
to develop
an action plan that addresses opportunities and risks;
and
Identify ways that science and technology can play
an appropriate role in the development process.
The Global Dialogue will feed into a large-scale,
multi-stakeholder meeting in April to address the issues
raised. SciDev.net is also
covering the Dialogue,
and has prepared an
excellent intro
to the question of whether nanotechnology can be applied to
development issues. For me, however, the answer is already
crystal clear:
Nanotech may be the ultimate leapfrog technology.
This is, in part, because it's still a nascent
technological pathway -- while nanomaterials are starting to
see some
commercial applications,
nanoassembly (also known as
molecular manufacturing)
is still a decade or two away. It's also partly because
nanotechnology (in either variation) doesn't require a big,
widespread industrial base to flourish, and its development
is predicated more upon education and knowledge instead of
money and power: nanotech is more software engineering than
auto manufacturing.
But nanotech is potentially a leapfrog enabler largely
because it has such clear application to the issues of the
developing world. Nanotechnology has applications in the
world of
medicine and
health management.
Progress is already evident in nanotechnology-enabled
systems for
water purification.
Nanotech has applications in energy, from
improved battery
technologies and
power-conducting
polymers to
highly-efficient
solar panels
and
hydrogen
production.
It enables a new generation of accurate
sensors of
all
types.
Nanotech has applications for environmental
monitoring
and
cleanup. It
can even be used to improve food production, both via more
precise
agricultural
biotechnology (which would be less likely to have
unforeseen results) and better ability to monitor farmland
conditions. Ultimately, perhaps as soon as the next ten to
twenty years, material production processes will be
completely transformed by the
advent of molecular
manufacturing.
This doesn't mean that nanotechnology is without its
challenges.
Questions
remain about
health and
environmental
risks; an approach to the continued development of
nanotechnology rooted in the
precautionary principle
seems warranted. There's also the serious potential for
intellectual property and patent fights -- imagine an IP
regime combining the worst of both Big Pharma and the RIAA.
An
open source approach,
along with abundant
South-South
scientific
collaboration,
could go a long way to reducing the scale of the IP problem.
Lastly, a potential drawback to molecular manufacturing is
the question of how developing nations, which largely have
economies based on resource extraction, would weather a
rapid transition away from end of mass-resource-based
economics.
You'll note that the majority of the links provided go to
research which is well-underway or already moving from the
lab to the village. The primary point of speculation here is
the timeline for molecular manufacturing; even if that takes
far longer than is
currently considered
likely, the ongoing evolution of nanomaterials,
nanosensors and the like will reshape the world. In the
West, this may manifest primarily as
razor blades that stay
sharp, stain-free nanopants and bouncier tennis balls;
in the developing world, however, nanotechnology may be the
trigger for a leapfrog well past the Millennium Development
Goals and into a healthy and prosperous future.
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