Nanotechnology is an emerging field. It is an interdisciplinary science whose potential has
been widely touted for well over a decade. Despite significant private and public investment,
progress moving nanomaterials from the laboratory to industrial production has been slow and
difficult. Two challenges that have slowed development have been the poor understanding
of the new hazards introduced by nanotechnology and lack of appropriate policies to manage
any new risks. Scientists, engineers and entrepreneurs, however, continue to move forward,
grappling with challenges that range from the technical to the regulatory and everywhere
in between. Just as the concepts of nanoscale invention have required new insights from
scientists, they are also demanding new approaches to managing, producing, funding and
deploying novel technologies into the larger chemical sector. In this case, there is an unusual
opportunity to use science, engineering and policy knowledge to design novel products that are
benign as possible to human and environment health. R