I was an invited speaker and presented the European observatoryNano activities and the Toolkit for ethical reflection and communication at the IEEE Nano 2010 and Nano Korea conference in Seoul, Korea, on August 19-20, 2010.
This toolkit for ethical reflection and communication does not claim to provide a definitive picture of all options in the ethical debate on nanotechnology. Its aim is more modest: we wish to provide the reader with the means to frame her own vision of the debate, and to sharpen the ethical awareness of the parties involved in the development of nanosciences and nanotechnologies. We hope that this will foster a dialogue between philosophy, science, industry and society.
The toolkit was received with a lot of interest, and an enthusiastic discussion followed at the ‘Ethical System for Safe Nanomaterials’ panel session at the conference in Korea. Participants included Dr. Lerwen Liu of Asia Nano Forum (Singapore), Dr. Jungwon Lee of Seoul University (South Korea), Dr. Masafumi Ata of AIST (Japan), Dr. Chung-Shi Yang of NHRI (Taiwan) and Dr. Subhasis Sahoo of TERI (India). Possible future collaboration may include developing a version of the toolkit adapted to the context of ethical and social questions of nanotechnology in Asian countries.