 Sustainable governance of emerging technologies—Critical constellations in the agent network of nanotechnologyArnim Wiek, Stefan Zemp, Michael Siegrist and Alexander I. Walter Technology in Society, 2007, vol. 29, issue 4, 388-406 Abstract: Emerging technologies, such as nanotechnology, feature considerable uncertainty regarding benefits that can be realized and unwanted side effects that ought to be avoided. Sustainable governance of emerging technologies addresses this issue from an integrated societal perspective that proposes collaboration among agents from science, business, government, and the public during the process of technological innovation and diffusion. In this paper, we present agent network analysis as a method to identify critical constellations in the agent network against the normative background of sustainable governance. Results from a transdisciplinary study on the agent network of nanotechnology in Switzerland reveal, among others, missing key agents, non-fulfillment of required functions, non-availability of required knowledge, and deviations between self- and cross-perception. The study contributes to methodological discussions on the formation of agent networks in science, technology, and public policy studies. Keywords: Nanotechnology; Agent network; Sustainable governance; Cross-perception analysis; Transdisciplinary research; Emerging technologies (search for similar items in EconPapers) Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:teinso:v:29:y:2007:i:4:p:388-406 DOI: 10.1016/j.techsoc.2007.08.010 Access Statistics for this article Technology in Society is currently edited by Charla Griffy-Brown More articles in Technology in Society from Elsevier |
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