Nanotechnology: Technology Trends, Emerging Challenges and Implications

The purpose of this chapter is to present the subject matter and thereby explore the recent technology development trends, identify emerging issues and challenges that need to be investigated more generally and thoroughly, and to suggest key issues to be focused on for future agenda. Since nanotechnology is in its early stage of development, various factors and attributes can influence its emergence. The wide range of studies in this field may increase the rate of technology diffusion and shorten the pre-commercialized era, and so help it to move on to its highly commercialized era. However, the outcomes of current nanotechnology innovation systems, with their possible positive and negative effects on the environment and on existing industries, are uncertain. The challenges facing industry in the development of nanotechnology are substantial, given some areas of uncertainty (e.g., technical, commercial and social) which have been suggested in this study will affect the successful commercialization of nanotechnology. For the future development of nanotechnology, significant attention needs to be paid to facilitating the dissemination and absorption of nanotechnology knowledge, education infrastructure and research environments at institutional levels, massive investments in human resources and skills development, the efficient supply chain practices, stakeholder engagement and expanded public acceptability, effective procedures to evaluate nano-product's security and safety - along with the environmental and health issues in this industry being given a paramount importance in the decades to come.