Silos or systems in emerging science domains? The use of environmental, health and safety knowledge by nanotechnology researchers

Dr. Jan Youtie, Manager, at Georgia Tech's Enterprise Innovation Institute and Adjunct Associate Professor in Georgia Tech's School of Public Policy, presented a lecture on October 26, 2010 at 12 noon in room 1116 of the Marcus Nanotechnology Building.Runtime: 43:24 minutesEnvironmental, health, and safety (EHS) concerns are receiving considerable attention in the development of nanoscience and nanotechnology (nano) R&D, underscored by the perspective that EHS work should be developed alongside the scientific research rather than subsequent to applications. This positioning of nano EHS suggests the importance of early understanding and measurement of the diffusion of nano EHS science. This research examines the diffusion of new nano EHS knowledge, defined through a set of search terms in the global nanotechnology R&D publications database developed at Georgia Tech. The results indicate that nano EHS research is growing rapidly although it is orders of magnitude smaller than the broader nano science and technology (S&T) domain. Even as important, only a small albeit growing percentage of nano S&T works cite nano EHS publications. These results suggest that policies to promote EHS in nano R&D are important, but the diffusion of these research should receive attention as well