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Nanotechnology review (now closed)

CST conducted a review of progress on actions set out in the Government's response (PDF, 334 Kb) to the Royal Society//Royal Academy of Engineering report "Nanoscience and Nanotechnologies: opportunities and uncertainities (PDF, 3.4 Mb) ".

The review, "Nanosciences and Nanotechnologies: A Review of Government's Progress on his Policy Commitments (PDF, 326 Kb) " was published on 27th March 2007. It concluded that whilst the Government had made good progress in many areas - including standards and metrology, international engagement and minimising workplace and public exposure - it had not provided sufficient support for research into the toxicology and health and environmental effects of nanomaterials.

The Council also issued a press release (DOC, 99 Kb) announcing the publication and published the evidence (PDF, 5.1 Mb) it had collected over the course of the review as an annex.

Erratum

In Case Study Box Six and Paragraph 113 the budget for the Nanosh programme is incorrectly given as £27m. The correct figure is £2.7m.

Responses

Government responded to the review on 17th May 2007. Government's response welcomed CST's Review and acknowledged the need for greater championship of some of the issues surrounding nanotechnologies. In the response Malcolm Wicks, Minister for Science and Innovation, agreed to be a champion for nanotechnologies across Government and announced that he was establishing a ministerial working group to bring together those ministers with responsibility for the research base, innovation, health and safety and the environment. CST welcomes Government's response.

Formal responses have been made by:

The review

As part of the review CST considered:

The extent to which Government has taken forward the commitments described in its Response
The timelines and effectiveness of the actions taken by Government
Whether there have been significant developments in nanoscience/nanotechnology since February 2005 which raise new issues that Government did not address in its Response, and should now.

The review does not discuss wider arguments on the use of nanotechnologies in society, nor does it discuss whether the commitments made by Government were the correct course of action.

Subgroup membership

CST convened a subgroup to take forward the Nanotechnology Review. The subgroup's first meeting was in May 2006. Membership is as follows:

Professor Sir John Beringer (Convenor)
Professor Geoffrey Boulton,
Dr Hermann Hauser
Andrew Gould
Dr Sue Ion.

Three external experts were co-opted to the subgroup to provide additional expertise:

Professor Jacquie Burgess (School of Environmental Sciences, University of East Anglia)
Professor Ken Donaldson (Edinburgh Lung and the Environment Group Initiative (ELEGI) Colt Laboratory)
Professor Mark Welland (University of Cambridge Nanoscale Science Laboratory)

Work programme

CST published a call for evidence on Thursday 6th July. Full details of the call for evidence, as well as copies of all written evidence received, may be found here.

The subgroup also held a seminar on 4th September at the Royal Academy of Engineering, conducted a series of meetings with a wide variety of stakeholders including Government departments and agencies, industry and NGOs, as well as holding discussions with the European Commission, the OECD and the German nanotechnologies community. Details of all oral evidence collected may be found here.