Symposium on Assessing the Economic Impact of Nanotechnology: Synthesis Report

Governments have a fiscal and social responsibility to ensure that limited research and development resources are used wisely and cost-effectively in support of social, economic, and scientific aspirations. As a result of significant public and private investments in nanotechnology during the past decade and an expanding array of commercial applications, the field of nanotechnology has matured to the point of showing significant potential to help societies achieve the shared goal of improving efficiencies and accelerating progress in a range of economic sectors, including medicine, manufacturing, and energy. Countries that wish to promote the continued responsible development of nanotechnology will, however, need quantitative data on the economic impact of nanotechnology to guide further investment and policy decisions. Few widely accepted economic impact assessments have been conducted, however, and there are many questions regarding the best methodologies to be used.

In view of this, the OECD and the United States National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI) held an international symposium, Assessing the Economic Impact of Nanotechnology, in March 2012. Hosted by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), it brought together participants from the public and private sectors with expertise all along the nanotechnology value chain – scientists, engineers, policy analysts, private investors, technology leaders, and the general public – from both OECD and emerging economies. The conclusion was that the technology is sufficiently mature to justify the collecting of data to support the performance of economic impact assessments. This report provides some of the reasoning behind this conclusion and identifies some of the potential challenges involved.