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Refining Search Terms For Nanotechnology, Alan L. Porter, Jan Youtie, Philip Shapira, David J. Schoeneck May 2008

Refining Search Terms For Nanotechnology, Alan L. Porter, Jan Youtie, Philip Shapira, David J. Schoeneck

Philip Shapira

The ability to delineate the boundaries of an emerging technology is central to obtaining an understanding of the technology’s research paths and commercialization prospects. Nowhere is this more relevant than in the case of nanotechnology (hereafter identified as “nano”) given its current rapid growth and multidisciplinary nature. (Under the rubric of nanotechnology, we also include nanoscience and nanoengineering.) Past efforts have utilized several strategies, including simple term search for the prefix nano, complex lexical and citation-based approaches, and bootstrapping techniques. This research introduces a modularized Boolean approach to defining nanotechnology which has been applied to several research and patenting databases. …


R&D Policy In The United States: The Promotion Of Nanotechnology, Philip Shapira, Jue Wang Nov 2007

R&D Policy In The United States: The Promotion Of Nanotechnology, Philip Shapira, Jue Wang

Philip Shapira

This case study reviews the evolution of nanotechnology policies and programmes in the United States with a particular focus on three thematic areas: governance, interactions among R&D policies, and interaction between R&D policy and non-R&D policies. Federal R&D policy in nanotechnology has moved through several stages, including initial exploration before the 1980s, the promotion of scientific and technological breakthroughs in the 1980s, policy development in the 1990s and multiagency national initiatives in the 2000s. Since 2001, the major federal R&D policy mechanism in nanotechnology in the US has been the National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI). NNI promotes policy deliberation and, most …