Nanotechnologies offer potentially huge benefits to society, industry, the environment and health. They can help us improve our quality of life and respond to some of the key issues of the day, such as climate change. For example, they could contribute to improved energy storage and efficiency, better diagnosis and treatment of disease, faster computer systems, and remediation of polluted air, soil and water. But some may cause harm to health or the environment, or present ethical or social challenges
The UK Government’s vision for nanotechnologies is:
“for the UK to derive maximum economic, environmental and societal benefit from the development and commercialization of nanotechnologies, and to be in the forefront of international activity to ensure there is appropriate control of potential risks to health, safety and the environment.”
Government policy on nanotechnologies developed from recommendations set out in the highly influential Royal Society and the Royal Academy of Engineering (RS/RAEng) report: 'Nanoscience and nanotechnologies: opportunities and uncertainties'. This report was published in 2004 and the Government released its response
(334 KB) a year later setting out a series of commitments.
The Nanotechnology Issues Dialogue Group (currently chaired by GO-Science) co-ordinates the activities described in the Government response. Its sub-group, the Nanotechnology Research Coordination Group, chaired by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), is responsible for developing a cross-Government research programme into the potential human health and environmental risks and overseeing the programme of public dialogue and social research. Stakeholder views feed in through the Nanotechnologies Stakeholder Forum which meets quarterly and is open to the public.
Progress on the Government’s commitments was reviewed by the Council for Science and Technology (CST) in 2007, which challenged the Science and Innovation Minister to champion nanotechnologies across Government. In light of this the Ministerial Group on Nanotechnologies was established, drawing together the areas of innovation and risk and reflecting the broad interests of Government. Ministers from DIUS (Chair), Defra, BERR, HSE and DH are the members of the Group.
The outcome of the first meeting of the Group was the UK Statement on Nanotechnologies(1 MB) which outlined the full spectrum of the Government’s activities on nanotechnologies, their rationale and how they are coordinated.
The second meeting discussed the regulation of nanotechnologies, a register/reporting scheme, research, skills and communications. The Group agreed to ask the Nanotechnology Stakeholder Forum for their views, ahead of the next meeting.
At the third meeting Ministers considered these issues again and set Government a challenging series of commitments which would lead toward the creation of a UK strategy for nanotechnologies (see press notice). They wished to ensure that everyone in the UK can benefit from the societal and economic opportunities that these technologies may offer whilst addressing the challenges that they might present. The aim of the strategy is to identify the needs, and inform the actions and priorities, of everyone who has an interest in nanotechnologies and provide a roadmap of use to everyone from Government to researchers, businesses, regulators, third sector organisations and the general public.
To help us develop the strategy, we are seeking views on current and future opportunities and challenges, the effectiveness of current policies and what more Government, industry, academia and consumer and other non-Government organisations might do to ensure that the UK as a whole is best placed to develop and benefit from the new products and technologies in a socially responsible manner. An evidence gathering website will be launched at the end of June.
