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The economic and social impact of chronic brain disorders such as Alzheimer’s and other neurodegenerative diseases will become the #1 public health problem worldwide by 2050, directly affecting 100 million people. Ongoing demographic trends, namely ageing populations, are leading to the unprecedented expansion of consumer demand for healthcare services, which will confront a serious crisis in a climate of shrinking resources.
This paper brings together information collected through Working Party on Nanotechnology discussions and projects. It relies in particular on preliminary results from a project on the responsible development of nanotechnology and outcomes of a symposium held in 2012.
Countries/regions have begun to develop and refine regulatory approaches for foods and medical products and invest in regulatory science and other research efforts to support the responsible development of nanotechnology in these areas. This paper inventories and analyses regulatory approaches, legislative regimes and government-sponsored research programmes and infrastructure in foods and medical products that involve nanotechnology.
A global, political push for poverty eradication through the post-2015 framework is likely to benefit from parallel bottom-up social innovation and mobilization. Modern technology can be a real game changer in this regard.
The April 2013 meeting of the OECD Global Forum saw the official launch of Scientific Collections International (SciColl), a new international network devoted to promoting interdisciplinary research that relies on scientific collections.
The new OECD/WTO database on trade in value-added is not just about changing the numbers, but policymakers’ approaches too. It gives trade fresh importance, and a place high on the agenda of the UK’s G8 presidency.
Environmental biotechnology is focused on clean-up and much of the policy in this area is around compliance, whereas industrial biotech has quite different policy objectives and only started to grow as a field with the worldwide interest in biofuels. Much of the world now has targets for bioenergy and favourable policy regimes to stimulate production and use of biofuels, but sustainability has become a real issue.
The growing awareness that knowledge-based capital (KBC) is driving economic growth is prevalent in today’s global marketplace. The creation and application of knowledge is especially critical to the ability of firms and organisations to develop in a competitive global economy and to create high-wage employment.
OECD Global Science Forum report on data and research infrastructure for the social sciences.
Increasingly complex and inconsistent clinical trial regulations are causing delays, raising costs and leading to a decline in the number of international trials conducted by academics for non-commerical purposes.
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