Tuesday, November 22, 2005

Social intelligence going small

Perhaps not the mobility we are used to - but the debate is surely one of the most important: how nano-technologies will inform social intelligence and our interaction with our environments.

Nanotechnology - the science of small things - promises to be one of the defining technologies of the 21st Century. But what will it mean for society and the environment? And how can public engagement in deciding the direction of research be moved 'upstream'?

Currently in the scoping phase, researchers of Demos Uk are working closely with two research councils (the BBSRC and the EPSRC), the environment agency, a corporate partner and a not-for-profit to explore how social intelligence can inform decision-making in nanotechnology funding and diffusion. These experiments in public engagement are funded by The Office of Science and Technology’s Sciencewise project, created to foster interaction between scientists, government and the public on impacts of science and technology.

Check out also - Lancaster's own involvement with Demos/ESRC and nanotech research at
ENCOURAGING EARLY PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT WITH NANOTECHNOLOGY

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