FramingNano Newsletter No 5 - Governance Platform Presented at International Conference
The FramingNano EU FP7 project is soon being concluded, and the results of this 2-year project have been presented and discussed with stakeholders during an international conference in Brussels on December 15, 2009. The draft FramingNano Governance Platform, which was described for the first time at the Conference, will set out a proposal for the framing of policy on nanotechnology in Europe.
The FramingNano project partners and Advisory Board members gathered in Brussels on Monday, 14 December 2009, ahead of the FramingNano International Conference “A New Governance Framework for Nanotechnologies” on 15 December.
The programme for the one-day Conference included presentations by Peteris Zilgalvis, Head of Unit and Renè Von Schömberg of the European Commission's Governance and Ethics Unit, as well as contributions from industry, NGOs, governments and academia. The meeting was also attended by Dr. Philippe Martin, Principal Administrator with responsibilities for nanotechnology policy at Directorate-General Health and Consumer Protection (DG Sanco) of the European Commission.
The presented FramingNano Governance Platform is the result of wide consultation process and dialogue with key stakeholders and subsequent deliberation process. It highlight s the major challenges to be overcome in order to successfully craft governance policies for nanotechnologies, and the communication issues that need to be addressed if Europe is to harness the full potential of this rapidly growing area of technology.
Risks and concerns arising from nanotechnologies will be addressed, with particular attention paid to those key environmental health and safety (EHS), and ethical, legal and societal issues (ELSI), that have to be understood and ‘framed'. However, the inclusion of benefits and opportunities is also considered as a necessary element in this debate. The ultimate aim is to design a balanced governance framework that takes into account the tradeoff between these two opposing factors.
The draft Governance Platform may be downloaded by registered users of the FramingNano website, www.framingnano.eu.
Following the Brussels meeting and the preparation of the definitive version of the FramingNano Governance Platform, the project now moves to the next phase which focuses on dissemination of the Platform at national level. National conferences will take place in London, UK on 11 February; Prague, Czech Republic on 2 March; Amersfoort, Netherlands on 9 March; Berne, Switzerland on 18 March; Frankfurt, Germany on 24 March; and in Italy on a date in May to be announced shortly.
The full FramingNano January Newsletter with many more interesting news from governance of nanotechnologies may be accessed on the FramingNano website.