The Challenge of Regulating Nanotechnologies
Earlier this week the Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies published a report on: “Oversight of Next Generation Nanotechnologies“. The report makes the point that: “Oversight of new technologies in...
View ArticleCan we influence the research agenda?
A big question! Yet this is what a workshop to be held in Kathmandu on 26 May 2009 will try to achieve. Practical Action Nepal, working with local partners including the Department for Water Supply...
View ArticleIf it is nanotechnology it must be expensive…right?
Not always! Vicky Colvin (who I met over 3 years ago) and colleagues at Rice University have been working on what I often refer to as a “nano recipe for the poor”. The recipe uses “nanorust” to...
View ArticleFive years on where are the examples of nanotechnology that benefit the poor?
The RS/RAEng report (published five years ago) raised concerns that there was a potential for nanotechnologies to intensify the gap between rich and poor countries. Practical Action was consulted by...
View Article“Mind the gap”…the new technology train is leaving
Last night the Royal Society brought together leading thinkers to consider the future of nanotechnologies. The invitation to the event said, “It is five years since the publication of the landmark...
View ArticleClean (swach) water hits a new low price point
According to a UN report in 2007 half the world’s hospital beds are occupied by people with water borne diseases. The challenge to poor people comes from both availability and access to water. For...
View ArticleWill a nanotechnology water sensor work for the poor?
The departments of Chemical Engineering, Materials Science and Engineering and Biomedical Engineering at the University of Michigan, United States, and collaborators from Jiangnan University in China,...
View ArticleHow can the poor benefit from solar power?
To ensure the benefits of solar power are felt by the rural poor in remote communities at least two things need to happen. The technology needs to be more efficient and cheaper but also more...
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Technology everywhere…but will it reach the poor?
As dawn breaks in 2012 we enter the season of technology forecasting. What will new technologies bring us in 2012 and beyond? Most of these forecasts seem to dwell on the fortunes of...
View ArticleInterviewing Duncan Green
Last week, I took a trip down to Oxford to interview Duncan Green, Oxfam director, blogger and author of the uplifting book, From Poverty to Power. The book, which is published by Practical Action...
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