Innovation in Nanotechnology: A Foundation of Cultural Change within Institutions

Nanotechnology is recognized as a field of scientific and technological constellation and practice in which diverse scientific disciplines and technology domains are involved. This research is generally concerned with whether nanotechnology will be a ground for the cultural changes within academic departments or institutions. In this paper, a mixed-methods research approach is adopted, analyzing both primary and secondary data, to unpack the complexity of the issues of scientists' re-location into new institutional entities. In utilizing qualitative method, the author has used primary data: conducting a series of face-to-face semi-structured interviews of a sample of independent experts covering a wide range of stakeholders across Europe, Asia and North America. The research findings suggest that nanotechnology accelerates the way of formation of new academic departments and the cultural settings of institutions, including a high degree of disciplinary diversity which significantly involves many other scientific fields and technology domains.