Swiss Counsellor of State Ivo Bischofberger: "Young people should get in touch with Nanotechnology."
In the editorial of the recent TA-Swiss newsletter the Councellor of State Dr. Ivo Bischofberger claims under the title "Understanding - not ignoring nanotechnology" that already young people and children should be familiarized with nanotechnology at an early stage. "Swiss Nano-Cube", the national knowledge and information platform for secondardy schools and professional education, facilitated the introduction of nanotechnology topics in schools. Bischofberger stated that it was of utmost importance to perfom an open dialogue with young people and to discuss critical questions on a matter-of-fact basis and unadornedly.
Editorial
Understanding - Not ignoring nanotechnology!
The emperor William II (1849-1941) is quoted: "I believe in horses. The automobiles are of a temporary nature only." This quote reminded me sometimes of the debate about emgerging technologies, which have a great potential, especially nanotechnology.
Nanotechnology is supposed to be a key technology of the 21st. century for science and economy, which will influence many areas such as medicine, biology, material- and engineering sciences in the near future. As an important emerging technology it will play an important role for Switzerland as a leading science- and technology country and will offer great opportunities and many benefits for the society. From this point of view it seems of utmost importance that nanotechnology is discussed in an open dialogue and also critical questions are discussed on a matter-of-fact basis and unadornedly. The opportunities and risks should be managed on a professional basis in order to avoid emotional or ideologically motivated aversions of the public as we have seen in the GMO debate.
Therefore I`m convinced to teach the young generation about nanotechnology. In Switzerland the Federal Office for Professional Education and Technology there has inititated the "Swiss Nano-Cube" platform which has been realised by the Innovation Society, St.Gallen. This is the Swiss national knowledge and information platform on micro- and nanotechnology for secondary schools and professional education. It aims to provide teaching materials for nanotechnology in classrooms. This is in very much in the sense of Victor Hugo: "Nothing seems more powerful than an idea, whose time has come."
Content (German)
- Tiny particles - big questions (Emiliano Feresin)
- Expo Nano – mobile exposition (Jen Haas)
- Challenges from legal and economical point of view (Thomas Cottier)
- Nano-dreams and nano-tricks (Huma Khamis)
Source: TA Swiss
Further information: info@innovationsgesellschaft.ch