Publications

National Needs Drivers for Nanotechnology

Yonas, Gerold Y.; Picraux, Samuel T.; Picraux, Samuel T.

Societal needs related to demographics, resources, and human behavior will drive technological advances over the next 20 years. Nanotechnology is anticipated to be an important enabler of these advances, and thus maybe anticipated to have significant influence on new systems approaches to solving societal problems as well as on extending current science and technology-based applications. To examine the potential implications of nanotechnology a societal needs-driven approach is taken. Thus the methodology is to present the definition of the problem, and then examine system concepts, technology issues, and promising future directions. We approach the problem definition from a national and global security perspective and identify three key areas involving the condition of the planet, the human condition, and global security. In anticipating societal issues in the context of revolutionary technologies, such as maybe enabled by nanoscience, the importance of working on the entire life cycle of any technological solution is stressed.