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The WPN convened its third meeting on the 21st-24th of April 2008 in Paris to discuss the preliminary results of its projects. The meeting also focused on methodological issues and plans for:
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the synthesis of ongoing case study work on the impacts of nanotechnology on companies and business environments;
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the survey for identifying best practices in outreach and public engagement activities across countries; and
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the work program for the new project on nanotechnology and clean water as a global challenge.
The two-day meeting was preceded by a steering group meeting of the project on “Outreach and public engagement” and a workshop on the commercialization of nanotechnology for the project on “Companies and Business Environments”. The workshop involved industry speakers from Belgium, the UK and the US and it was followed by country presentations of preliminary results of the case studies and a project steering group meeting.
Amongst other things, the meeting resulted in an agreement on the content of the questionnaires on outreach and public engagement which were subsequently sent out to the countries for completion. The results of the survey will be discussed at a workshop to be arranged in the Netherlands in the fourth quarter of 2008.
The case studies will form the basis for a first draft version of the synthesis report to be discussed at a second workshop to take place on 6-7th October in Helsinki. This workshop will also involve external experts and companies to ensure the broadest possible relevance of the findings. Altogether some 40 company case studies are envisioned, covering 14 countries and a broad range of application industries.
In addition the project on “Global challenges: water” is organizing a workshop in connection with the Nanotechnology Northern Europe 2008 Conference. The workshop will take place on September 25th and the conference runs from 23-25 September in Copenhagen, Denmark. Please click the following link to access the website of the conference for more information: http://www.nanotech.net/
The project on “International research cooperation” is also planning a workshop to be held during the first half of 2009.
Please click here for slides that highlight the main decisions and next steps for all projects.
The fourth meeting of the WPN will be held 15-18 December 2008 in Paris. This meeting will discuss final draft reports across projects, other outcomes of the work. It will also finalize the program of work for the next period 2009-2010.
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