| Summary: |
The New Zealand Ministry of Research, Science & Technology, in conjunction with the Royal Society of New Zealand and other stakeholders, hosted a two-day workshop on April 23-24, 2009 to discuss nanotechnology in New Zealand. This document is the workshop report containing a summary of the proceedings. Although there are presently limited numbers of commercial nanotechnology manufacturers within New Zealand, there is extensive ongoing research activity. Local concerns raised at the workshop included, most notably, spiritual and cultural concerns including effects on local species and problems of introducing Mauri (a Maori word meaning the life force which all objects contain) into places where it is not normally found. More traditionally, participants raised questions of liability, risk balancing, and questions of how to assess risks. |