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Navigating advanced technology transitions: using lessons from nanotechnology

Nature Nanotechnology volume 18, pages 1118–1120 (2023)Cite this article

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As researchers, developers, policymakers and others grapple with navigating socially beneficial advanced technology transitions — especially those associated with artificial intelligence, DNA-based technologies, and quantum technologies — there are valuable lessons to be drawn from nanotechnology. These lessons underscore an urgent need to foster collaboration, engagement and partnerships across disciplines and sectors, together with bringing together people, communities, and organizations with diverse expertise, as they work together to realize the long-term benefits of transformative technologies.

What is perhaps not so clear is that there are insights from nanotechnology that are deeply relevant to navigating this and other advanced technology transitions, and lessons that developers, decision makers, and others, would be wise to heed as they work toward ensuring the emergence of new technologies that substantially benefit society.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School for the Future of Being Human, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA

    Andrew D. Maynard

  2. Knowledge Enterprise, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA

    Sean M. Dudley

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  1. Andrew D. Maynard
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  2. Sean M. Dudley
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Correspondence to Andrew D. Maynard.

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Maynard, A.D., Dudley, S.M. Navigating advanced technology transitions: using lessons from nanotechnology. Nat. Nanotechnol. 18, 1118–1120 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41565-023-01481-5

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