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Introduction and background for the workshop

Policy formulation, academic research, business strategies, and civil society campaigns agree that nanotechnology development should be responsible. However, the notion of responsibility is extremely diversified in the public discourse of nanoscale technologies, shifting from specialized meanings, e.g. close to liability of industrial producers, or narrower definitions, focusing on toxicological aspects to be tested experimentally, to broader interpretations, considering issues like human rights protection, social cohesion and inclusiveness. The variety of these meanings is apparently dependent on the different normative and epistemic, even disciplinary, perspectives represented in the debate, on the heterogeneity of the social actors bearing such perspectives, and on the stage of the (nano)products life-cycle that is considered, on the plurality of technical fields that are associated with nanoscale science and technology, on the more or less.

Also, these different meanings suggest to commentators and operators different foci of attention and policy measures, ranging from radical appeals to precaution, to the experimentation of new procedures for rule-making, to the implementation of public understanding and/or public engagement activities, and to the development of tests, standards, and measures of exposition for humans and the environment.

On the one hand, the formulation and implementation of these policies are affected mostly by our capacity to conjugate what “responsible development” means for us in the future tense, i.e. with regard to the consequences of our actions onto future generations, but also with regard to the assumptions about future situations that influence our way of acting. On the other, assumption about individuals and their ties to broader social communities affect the solutions for developing nanotechnology responsibly: balancing safety and the legitimate pursue of knowledge or economic opportunities, individual freedoms and collective interests (in a stronger fashion, the “common good”), distributing costs and rewards, etc..

The workshop attempts to disentangle these complex meanings of responsibility in nanotechnology development.

The workshop is co-organised by the Institute of Technology Assessment and Systems Analysis (ITAS) at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) and under the patronage of Consorzio Università Rovigo (CUR).

Workshop Venue
Consorzio Università Rovigo, Viale Porta Adige 45 – 45100 ROVIGO (Italy)

Working languages
The working language of the conference is English. Translation from/to Italian is available only for the opening session.

Attendance and registration
Attendance is free of charge. However, registration is mandatory. Attendees can register by sending the registration form attached to ecsin@venetonanotech.it

 

PRELIMINARY PROGRAMME

 

JUNE 6TH, 2011

10.00 am – Opening session

Welcome addresses

Introduction

Vittorio Domenichelli, Director, CIGA-University of Padua

11.00 am – Plenary session

Assessing Nanotechnologies: Choices, Boundaries, and Synergies

Chair:Federico Neresini, Dept. of Sociology, University of Padua, Italy

Speakers

Enrico Sabbioni, Chief Scientific Advisor, European Centre for the Sustainable Impact of Nanotechnology (ECSIN), Rovigo, Italy

Torsten Fleischer, Senior Researcher, Institute for Technology Assessment and Systems Analysis (ITAS), Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Karlsruhe, Germany

12.30 pm – Lunch break

2.00 pm – Parallel sessions

Session 1 – Responsibility and Regulation under Uncertainty (I)

Nanomedicine: Building a Bridge between Science and Law

Antonella Trisolino, Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Canada

The Role of Consumer “Safety Expectation” within Nano-Products Context. Lesson from the Case of Personal Injuries New Drugs Side Effects

Giorgia Guerra, University of Padua & Agnese Querci, University of Genoa, Italy

Nanotechnologies and Novel Foods in European Law

Daniela Marrani, University of Salerno, Italy & Michela Velardo, Field Fisher Waterhouse LLP, Belgium

Session 2 – Coordinating Responsibility in Nanotechnology Development (I)

On Being Responsible: Anticipatory Governance, Private Sector Nanotechnology, and Language Games

Sarah Davies, Arizona State University, USA

Stakeholder Engagement for Responsible Nanotechnology Innovation

Manish Anand, The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), India

Precautionary Collective Assessment vs Continuous Moral Assessment

Bernard Reber, CNRS, France

3.30 pm – Coffee break

4.30 pm – Parallel sessions

Session 1 – Responsibility and Regulation under Uncertainty (II)

Risk Regulation, Safety and Emerging Paradigms in Food Regime: What Should Nano-Food Sector Learn?

Muhammad Nizam Awang, Brunel University, United Kingdom

The State of Nanotechnology Policy in Europe

Aida Ponce Del Castillo, European Trade Union Institute, Belgium

Regulation of Nanotechnology in Cosmetics: a Current Position in Malaysia

Zalina Zakaria, University of Manchester, United Kingdom

Session 2 – Coordinating Responsibility in Nanotechnology Development (II)

Rethinking the Concept of Responsibility for Others

Silvia Zullo, University of Bologna, Italy

Playing Lego with Nanomolecules and with Biobricks: the Role of Responsible Stewardship in Nanotechnology and Synthetic Biology

Ilaria Anna Colussi, University of Trento, Italy

The role of Ethical Committees in Nanotechnology Clinical Trials

Viviana Daloiso, Pietro Refolo, Antonio G. Spagnolo, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Rome, Italy

6.30 pm – Closing of day 1

JUNE 7TH, MORNING

9.30 am – Parallel sessions

Session 1 – Responsibility and Regulation under Uncertainty (III)

Nanotechnology Risk Governance. How to Make Responsible Choices in Workplaces

A.J. Dijkman, J. Terwoert, A.L. Hollander, TNO Work & Employment, The Netherlands

A Procedural Approach to Distributing Responsibilities in the Soft Regulation of Nanotechnologies

Neelke Doorn, Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands

From the Trenches: First-Hand Reports of How Companies are Managing Nanotechnologies

Weil Vivian, Illinois Institute of Technology, USA

Session 2 – Coordinating Responsibility in Nanotechnology Development (III)

Speculation and Control: Value Chain Responsibility in Nanomedicine

Harro van Lente & Colette Bos, University of Utrecht, The Netherlands

Who is Responsible for the Failure of the Innovation? Responsibility and Trust in a Case of Collaboration in the Field of Nanotechnology

Paolo Magaudda, University of Padua, Italy

Global Pop Biotech as a Policy Model for Emergent Technologies: Hackerspaces, DIYlabs and Alternative R&D Cultures

Denisa Kera, National University of Singapore

11.00 am – Coffee break

11.30 am – Parallel sessions

Session 1 – Responsibility and Regulation under Uncertainty (IV)

“Would You Mind, If We Record This?”: Perceptions on Regulation and Responsibility of Indian Nanoscientists

Subhasis Sahoo, The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), India

Visions and Social Responsibility in the Development of Nanotechnology

Christopher Coenen, Institute for Technology Assessment and Systems Analysis (ITAS), Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Germany

Session 2 – Coordinating Responsibility in Nanotechnology Development (IV)

Responsibility in Semi-Peripheral Context: Entangling Approaches

Paulo Fonseca, University of Coimbra, Portugal

Constructing Neoliberal Citizenship in the Nanoengineering Classroom

Emily York, University of California, San Diego, USA

12.30 pm – Lunch break & visit to ECSIN nanotoxicology Laboratory

2.30 pm – Plenary session

Responsible Innovation, Regulation and Ethics

Chair:George Michael Tyshenko, Institute of Population Health, University of Ottawa, Canada

Speakers

Styles of Innovation, Styles of Regulation. To Bind or Not to Bind?

Mariachiara Tallacchini, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Milan, Italy

The Structure of Nanotechnology Debates and Responsibility to the Public's Values

John Evans, University of California, San Diego, USA

4.00 pm – Closing remarks

Elena Pariotti, CIGA-University of Padua, Italy

4.30 pm – Closing of the workshop

Scientific Committee

Antonio Da Re, CIGA-University of Padua, Italy

Arianna Ferrari, ITAS-Karlsruhe Institute of Techology, Germany

Guillermo Foladori, University of Zacatecas, Mexico

Armin Grunwald, ITAS-Karlsruhe Institute of Techology, Germany

Federico Neresini, Dept. of Sociology, University of Padua, Italy

Elena Pariotti, CIGA-University of Padua, Italy

Mariachiara Tallacchini, Faculty of Law, Catholic University of Milan, Italy

George Michael Tyshenko, Institute of Population Health, University of Ottawa, Canada

Working languages

The working language of the conference is English. Translation from/to Italian is available only for the opening session.

Attendance and registration

Attendance is free of charge. However, registration is mandatory. Attendees can register by sending an email to ecsin@venetonanotech.it