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Philosophical differences in US and EU science and technology policy: ‘market drive’ versus ‘guided development’?
Published: Monday 25 August 2008
Nanotechnology news provider NanoWerk published a discussion of the differeing approaches to converging technologies in the US and in Europe. The latest NanoWerk Spotlight investigates how ‘Europe and the U.S. take different approaches to Converging Technologies’.
Initiated by the publication of the final CONTECS (CONverging TEChnologies) report (i.e. a Network of Excellence (NoE) funded by the European Commission (FP6), which addressed the potential roles that the social sciences and humanities can play with regard to phenomenon of technological convergence), the NanoWerk Spotlight article analysis previous documents in support of its main conclusion that ‘the two differing approaches that the European Union and the U.S. take in tackling converging technologies is exemplary for the philosophical difference in how these two geographies approach the development of new technologies.’
‘Policies in the U.S. […] have been […] drifting, towards a purely market-driven approach to technology development: the government's job was to provide sufficient basic R&D funding, keep a minimum of consumer safety levels, but otherwise not to get into the way of industrial activities. […]’
‘In contrast, the European approach places the emphasis on the agenda-setting process itself. Rather than letting the market call all the shots, the European approach favors a guided development where societal, safety and environmental aspects are incorporated into the decision-making process.’