Nanotechnology

Cover -- Contents -- Appraisal and Recommendations -- Scientific and Technical Needs -- Commercial Needs -- Societal and Ethical Aspects -- Education -- Recommendations -- 1 Introduction and Summaries -- 1.1 Introduction -- 1.2 Summaries -- 1.3 Zusammenfassungen -- 2 Nanotechnology and Philosophy of Science -- 2.1 Icons of Nanotechnology -- 2.2 The Approach -- 2.3 The Nano Domain as a Product of Non-Linguistic and Linguistic Human Action -- 2.3.1 What defines a Measurement? -- 2.3.2 A Critique of the Empiricist Theory of Measurement -- 2.3.3 What Defines Nano Size? -- 2.4 Epistemology of Innovation and Progress -- 2.4.1 Constructive Progress -- 2.4.2 Empirical Progress -- 2.4.3 The Principle of Methodical Order -- 2.4.4 The Foundation of Nanotechnology -- 2.4.5 Techniques, Technology, and Theory -- 2.5 Discoveries, Inventions, and Applications: The Role of Purposes in Nanotechnology -- 2.5.1 What Does it Mean to Apply Knowledge? -- 2.5.2 Discovery versus Invention -- 2.5.3 Acting Nano Scientists -- 2.6 Nanotechnology -- Technical Know-How or Basic Scientific Research? -- 2.6.1 Technical or Natural? -- 2.6.2 Top Down or Bottom Up? -- 2.6.3 Historical Development versus Methodical Foundation -- 2.6.4 Classes of Substances, Nano-Scale and Protochemistry -- 2.6.5 Pictures or Artifacts Through Nano-Microscopy? -- 2.7 Consequences -- 2.7.1 Is Nanotechnology a "Paradigm Change"? (An Epistemic Consequence) -- 2.7.2 Responsibility for Effects and Side Effects (an Ethical Consequence) -- 2.7.3 Where do the Aims and Purposes Corne From? (A Political Consequence) -- 2.7.4 A Definition of Nanotechnology -- 3 Fields of Research and Technology -- 3.1 Materials -- 3.1.1 Metals -- 3.1.2 Semiconductors -- 3.1.3 Insulators -- 3.1.4 Molecules/Assemblies/Biomolecules -- 3.1.5 Hybrids/Composites -- 3.1.6 Boundary Surfaces -- 3.2 Information Storage -- 3.2.1 Stimulus: Electric/Electronic -- 3.2.2 Stimulus: Magnetic -- 3.2.3 Stimulus: Optical -- 3.2.4 Stimulus: Mechanic -- 3.2.5 Stimulus: Thermal -- 3.3 Biomedical Opportunities & Applications -- 3.3.1 A: Nanoparticles and their Biomedical Applications -- 3.3.2 B: Nanoanalytical Tools -- 3.3.3 B & C: Nanotechnology and Systems Biology -- 3.3.4 C: Bioinspired Engineering, Biomineralisation and Tissue Engineering -- 3.3.5 D: Interaction of Nanoparticles with Biosystems -- 3.4 Scaling Effects -- 4 Commercial Perspectives of Nanotechnology -- An Assessment Based on Patent Data -- 4.1 Introduction -- 4.2 Patents as Indicators of Technological Developments -- 4.3 Indicators and Tools for Systematic Patent Analyses -- 4.3.1 Patenting Indicators -- 4.3.2 Patent Portfolios -- 4.4 Patent.