Nanotechnology Project

Events

Nanotechnology: What’s That?

Tuesday September 25, 2007 • 12:30 – 1:30 PM

View Webcast  video

Woodrow Wilson Center • 5th Floor Conference Room

Poll Findings Released on Nanotech Awareness, Trust and Food Products

WASHINGTON—Nanoscience and nanotechnology are two of the hottest fields in research, investment, and manufacturing. Some hail nanotechnology as enabling “The Next Industrial Revolution.” But how many Americans know what nanotechnology is? Does the U.S. public feel that the potential benefits of nanotechnology will outweigh potential risks? Who do people trust to monitor the safety of new technologies? And will they use food storage containers and food products enhanced with nanotechnology?

These questions were part of a representative national telephone survey of adults conducted in August 2007. It repeats a similar poll carried out last year—which found that only one in 10 Americans had heard a lot about nanotechnology.

Results from the poll—as well as from two complementary focus group discussions conducted among adult men and women about nanotechnology and food—will be released by the Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies on Tuesday, September 25th at 12:30 p.m. at a program and live webcast at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.

Geoffrey Garin, president of Peter D. Hart Research Associates, which conducted the phone survey and focus groups, will present the findings.

For a list of over 500 company-identified nanotechnology consumer products, see: http://www.nanotechproject.tech/consumerproducts