Due to the existence of diverse governance systems and policies, the development of nanotechnology in different countries has taken various paths and has faced different destinies. Since the onset of the 21st century, nanotechnology development programs have been formally developed and implemented, with countries such as the United States, China, Iran and some European countries taking the initiative.
Since then, many countries from different continents around the globe have taken steps in this direction and have developed and implemented policies, strategies and programs to help promote this technology.
In some countries, nanotechnology development policies are approved, implemented, and evaluated on a regular basis and at specific intervals, and specific governmental institutions are established at various levels to guide, implement, and monitor these policies.
In other countries, however, the publication of policy documents for the development of nanotechnology is not subject to a specific procedure, and institutions have been established over time to develop this strategic technology.
Also, in some countries, national nanotechnology policy evaluation systems have been established to assess the status of achievement of goals and policy implementation processes. Some institutions oversee the progress of programs and publish program evaluation reports.
In some cases, this evaluation is performed regularly and in predetermined time spans, while in some countries, the evaluation does not follow a specific routine and is carried out in the form of publishing some reports at irregular times.
On the other hand, in recent years, due to the advances in the field of nanotechnology development and presence of some special considerations, the need has been felt to regulate and determine mandatory or voluntary protocols in the form of publication of regulations, including guidelines and various guidance systems, and governments have formulated various procedures in this regard.
What are the features and capabilities of the new version of StatNano policy database?
In order to inform its audience of the policy and regulatory status of nanotechnology in different countries and regular access to various policy documents published in each country, StatNano has launched a new version of the Nanotechnology Policy Database.
This Database is a rich, valuable resource for various stakeholders in the field, including policy makers, researchers, producers, technologists, businessmen, etc. It is hoped that the introduction of this new version would help educate the audience in this area and act as a systematic and user-friendly tool to fulfill the needs of its audience in the field of nanotechnology.
In this database, a document is deemed a nanotechnology policy document only if it is officially published by a government agency (national or transnational) and contains strategies, programs, or regulations regarding the current status of nanotechnology (pertaining to a program or condition over a specific period of time).
Policy documents are found having perused websites of different types of governing institutions affiliated with states, ministries or legislative organizations which are directly responsible for developing nanotechnology in a country or otherwise have the function of policy-making in the field of science, technology or industry in general.
In Policy documents, Keywords such as "policy", "plan", "program", "roadmap", "initiative", "statement", "guideline", "guidance", "rule", "regulation", "evaluation", "assessment", "review", in addition to the prefix "nano" are used in the title of documents. Furthermore, responsible and active institutions in different countries are identified and their publications are monitored periodically. Since such documents have not already been indexed in other databases, extensive and specialized search is conducted to find them.
The search language is English and as it turns out many countries with different national languages have also published a copy of their policy document in English. If a policy document is published in another language than English, the document will be translated into English and its important elements will be extracted.
Currently, more than 600 policy documents have been registered and indexed in this bank, which can be accessed and filtered using the search refine options. These documents are constantly updated and new documents are indexed. Users can also send their desired documents to be included in the bank through this form.
See new version of StatNano Policy Database here.
