Emerging Technologies: Business And Society

Emerging Technologies Business And SocietyOver the pop off decade, rising technologies work over no doubt influenced almost every sector of baseball club and rail modality line. Whether by their pledge of divulge club and business or by the curse of disquiet etched in their wings Robotics and Nanotechnology, among a few other(a) emerging technologies, cod certainly played a part in determine todays business and partnership for tomorrow.The return of Nanotechnology and Robotics was, to or so extent, instigated and inspired by certain heavy call for and pursuits of golf-club and business. The business desire for price- capacity and bon tons pursuit of sustainability in the form of weaken headness cargon, a cleaner environs, aegis, etc ar just a glimpse of what may have triggered the emergence of these among other technologies. However, the technologies success, or wishing of it, is to a large extent dependent on, the overall short and eagle-eyed term, how wel l they respond to the primary affects and pursuits of businesses and society.This report focuses on Nanotechnology and Robotics discussing whatsoever of their varied range of practical, conjectural and experimental maskings. The report, in essence, draws from the diverse applications of these 2 technologies, their implications and partakes on businesses and society hitherto and maybe in the near future. The analysis, in any case acknowledges and draws from lessons learnt in earlier and coeval technologies such(prenominal) as genetic engineering and nuclear energy. The analysis shows that the success of the technologies depends on their close evolutionary interaction with their re aspectnt businesses and society which atomic number 18 also changing in response albeit at a different pace.IntroductionThe influence of emerging technologies on almost every sector of business and society cannot be overstated over the last decade. Whether by their promise of better society and business or by the curse of disquiet etched in their wings Robotics and Nanotechnology, among other emerging technologies in the frontline, have certainly played a part in shaping todays business and society for tomorrow.The emergence of Nanotechnology and Robotics may, to some extent, have been instigated and inspired by certain fundamental needs and pursuits of society and business. The desire for greater efficiency cost or otherwise in business, better health care, a cleaner environment, security and etc for sustainable society are just a glimpse of pursuits that may have triggered the emergence of these dickens among other technologies. However, just as their earlier or contemporary counterparts such as genetic engineering, their success, or lack of it, is to a large extent dependent on the overall short and long term meet they portend for business and society.Robotics and Nanotechnology are two among the foremost of countless emerging technologies ushered into the new blo w whose impact on society and business is yet to be fully realised or determined. Determining the impacts of these two is no simple task. The range of applications for these two technologies, whether already practical or still theoretical, is quite wonderful and diverse reservation it rase more than(prenominal) than difficult for one to establish the full extent of their impact. there is however no doubt that these two have had their share of both positive and negative impacts on business and society and will incubate to during their evolution. Whatever the impacts, their measure may be drawn from how businesses and society have responded so far. Many studies done on these technologies indicate enormous initial investments by businesses and more recently, measured provided indeed far important investments by society.Nano- surmount technology or Nanotechnology has been defined generally as the creation of functional materials, devices, and systems by control of matter on the nanometer (1 to 100+ nm) length scale and the exploitation of novel properties and phenomena developed at that scale. 1Nanotechnology, just as many other technologies before, has specially pledge enormous benefits for businesses and society. Many studies indicate enormous initial investments by businesses and more recently, measured but nonetheless important investments by society anticipating mostly the benefits it promises. Nonetheless the studies also show that it bears its own brand of curses or threats a the interchangeable especially for society. Some of the threats may well be known, anticipated and resolved in considerably time. Others may only be revealed later on in its evolution. Either way, it is imperative that its benefits and identifiable threats be reasonably considered and embedded in their evolution if these two, among others relate, are going to succeed.On the other hand, a zombie is generally defined as a reprogrammable, multifunctional manipulator desi gned to move material, parts, tools, or specialized devices through with(predicate) various programmed motions for the performance of a variety of tasks (Robot Institute of America, 1979)15. Robotics is gum olibanum concerned mainly with the study, design, building and effect of robot systems for certain specialised tasks 14.Business and societys desire for greater efficiency cost and better health care, a cleaner environment, security etc respectively also continue to inspire heavy investments in more cost-efficient technologies. Achieving these either by automation, miniaturisation or by the use of better building blocks or materials for technology and wares are among the main approaches that converge search and development of Robotics and Nano-scale technology or Nanotechnology among other think technologies. apart(predicate) from the brief accession to a higher place, this report is organized into two main sections. The scratch line section covers a brief description o n the fundamentals of Nanotechnology. This section is followed by discussions on some of the principle practical, theoretical and experimental applications tracing and focusing on their impact on business and society. The second section deals with robotics and as well as describing the fundamentals of robot systems. This section too is followed by an examination of the major(ip) applications of robotics with a focus on their impact on society and business.NanotechnologyAs mentioned in the introduction, Nanotechnology generally involves engineering at the nano-scale level (1 to100nm) lever eld novel properties and phenomena of matter at this scale. The conception of engineering at this scale may well be attributed to Feyman (1959) 2. Modern understanding of Nanotechnology as defined above was built on the initial concept by other eminent scholars like Drexler (1992) 3. Merkle (1997) 4 also went on to propose additional concepts like building materials by specifically positioning ea ch atom and cost effective mass-meeting place of the atomsAt the close of the last century in 2000, presented with the anticipated advances and subsequent benefits of Nanotechnology by proponents such as Drexler (1992)3, Merkle (1997)4 among others, galvanized leaders in technological search and development, pillowcase edge innovation and business to converge and discuss extensively the implications of engineering at this scale. At a shop organized by the United States National light Foundation (NSF), guide experts equanimous and to present their views on Nanotechnology and its implications focusing its potential applications in business and society. A resulting report on the legal proceeding of the workshop presents rather varied views and perpectives, perhaps due to the diverse applications of the technology or backgrounds of the participants. However, the urgent need for a foundational and comprehensive analysis of the technology and its implications seems to be the leading theme. This was a defining moment in the evolution of Nanotechnology. Below is a summary of nanotechnologys focus and principle applications as reported in the NSF (2001) 5 workshop and are being refined with time as shown in the National Nanotechnology Initiative Strategic object (2007) 6Industrial Manufacturing Materials and products, Chemical ProcessingElectronics application in Information Technologies and CommunicationsMedicine and wellness applications in Medicine and Pharmaceuticals.Aerospace For aerospace and planetary exploratory applications. transference and civil infrastructure Lighter MaterialsSustainability in Energy, Water, Agriculture Food, Materials, vindicated environmentDefence and Security applications.Even though the current and potential applications of nanotechnology reach deeper than revealed by the above summary, there is no doubt that the above applications have impacted both businesses and society over the last decade in one way or another. Some researchers have even suggested at the emergence of Nanotechnology signalling the entry into the Age of Transitions 6 7 there would be profound waves of change whether in society or business. allude of Nanotechnology on businessEvery category of application highlighted above is representative of a range of industries and businesses that have already responded to, or must soon do so, to the diverse and vast influences, potential or practical, wielded by Nanotechnology. Some of these influences are certainly not unique to nanotechnology and may have been wielded by contemporary and preceding technologies. Others, however, such as the rapid parallel advances in research and development hardly witnessed by preceding technologies have compelled many a business in any of the application categories to reconfigure itself and its approach. These cycles of reconfiguration will even be more rapid when Nanotechnology converges with other emerging technologies that portend similar characteristic s. Good examples are traffic on the internet wireless capacity and computing performance which are said to double every 6, 9 and 18 months respectively 7.Industrial Manufacturing Nanoscale engineering of materials and products forms the bulk of current and perhaps even future applications of nanotechnology in industrial manufacturing. This has witnessed the introduction of new materials and products and thus new markets for businesses over the last 10 categorys. The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) forecasted the 2010 2015 Nanotechnology market at over 1 trillion US dollars as shown in the map below.Chart 1 Estimates of the nanotechnology market by 2010-2015USD trillions 1.1Source National Science FoundationSubsequent research (RNCOS research) 8 has upwardly revised estimates within half the power point implanttling at 1.6 trillion USD by the year 2013. The market estimates probably continue to inspire a steady increase in investment. Cientifica estimated the global po litical relation funding stood at a little less than 9.75 cardinal USD for nanotechnology. The US government alone invested 1.6 billion USD a steady increase from about 500 billion in 2001. 8Apart from specialized materials such as nano-composite polymers and other nanoscale structured materials and chemicals the inventory list of consumer products with a nanotech component currently stands at over 800 and will obviously continue to grow 9. With this kind of diversity in terms of products and an expanding market, businesses, especially those in manufacturing, will do well to quickly adapt continue their success.Electronics The potential application of nanotechnology in electronics is set to take the miniaturisation of computers to the next level. It is also set to make better the cost-efficiency and performance of electronic products even introducing product variation that have been hitherto unrealistic. 10Figure 1 Manufacturing cost projection for logic at silicon- knowledge base and electronic transistor levels as illustrated by Doering (2000) 5As shown in Figure 1, the cost of achieving electronic function is on the winnow out thus inspiring the continued introduction of new electronic products and business and a consequent the market for the products. This will no doubt also augment advances in related areas such as telecommunications that opening up opportunities for business as illustrated in Doerings (2000) 5 projections in Figure 2 below.Figure 2 Illustrates projected growth of electronic market place with decreasing feature sizes and function cost. Doering (2000) 5Medicine and Health Nanotechnology has been applied in medicine, healthcare and pharmaceuticals to introduce better drug delivery and diagnosis mechanisms (targeted) 10 11. The resulting advances achieved hitherto continue to attract, not just government funding, but private businesses and organizations are also joining the fray expend themselves in nanotech medicine and healthcare. Of course theres the prospect, albeit some of it being still experimental, of resolving age old problems like cancer.Figure 3 An illustration of Nanotech funding Adapted from ETC Nanotech Report (2006) 11There is also the prospect of making viable, products that have previously not been viable for business. The overall positive impact of nanotechnology on business related to medicine and health care is that it introduces a new range of products subsequently expanding the existing markets or even reconfiguring them all together 5, 10. Some studies estimated the world markets expansion for these products from 1 billion USD in 2005 to be decimal at 10billion USD by 2010 11.On the flipside, an expanding product base also ungenerouss the introduction of products that carry on with them originally unintended effects or even products that are downright harmful to the business side of medicine and healthcare 10 11.Aerospace Businesses and organizations in aerospace research and development have also invested themselves quite heavily with the heading of reaping some of the benefits of Nanotech application over the last decade or so. The introduction or potential introduction of lighter, stronger nanostructured materials or building blocks for aerospace equipment can only portend a positive outlook for this business since this in the end implies an eventual(prenominal) reduction in costs e.g. in fuelling as well as wholesome aerospace projects 10.Transportation and civil infrastructure Lighter high-strength materials developed through nanotechnology implies a reduction of costs whether in fuelling or maintenance in transportation and infrastructural developments.Impact of Nanotechnology on societyThe almost definitive nature of business, at least in objective makes much simpler the exercise of nanotechnologies impacts on business. This however, is not the case when it comes to determining social implications and impacts brought about by technologies nano or otherwis e. Many attempted studies at this exercise acknowledge this difficulty 5 10. The period of time required for one to actually determine a certain technologys impact on society as well as the frequently unpredictable nature of society have been cited in the studies among major challenges to the accuracy of determining societal implication of technology nanotechnology in this case.The impact of nanotechnology and its related advances on society hinges on certain major areas of life that are important to the makeup of that society. Below are some of the major areas cited by some studies like the NSF (2001) 5 report on Societal Implications of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology and the majestic Society Royal Academy of Engineering (2004) 10 report on Nanoscience and nanotechnologies opportunities and uncertaintiesHealth care Among the benefits pledged by nanotechnology, certain applications are meant to improve the quality of health care. Society at an individual level desires health and long life. modernistic products and technologies such as targeted drug delivery mechanisms and diagnostics introduced by nanoscale engineering for health care promise a healthy and quality for individuals and society as a whole. 11On the flipside, some products developed through nanotechnology also pose a threat to health. Some nanomaterials and particles have presented hazardous characteristics to human health and performance. Analyses and studies on some of the nano products and technologies which present unintended health hazards recommend responsible research and application of nanotechnologies 5.Sustainability Society looks for the sustainability of the resources that are its lifeblood. The current application and potential of Nanotechnology focusing on sustainable energy, water supply, agriculture food, materials and clean environment directly impact on the societys quality of life.Energy applications of nanotechnology pursue a parallel advance in achieving sustainable energ y building on existing technologies. The threesome approach deals with efficient energy novelty from primary form using a number of nanotech mechanisms e.g, nano-engineered solar cells, efficient computer storage energy storage through the use of supercapacitors developed through nanotechnology, and efficient energy saving mechanisms e.g. through the use of better thermoinsulators created using by nanomaterials 12Sustainable energy is tightly bound with a clean environment. Achieving the former dramatically improves the later.Water supply is also an issue of concern for society where nanotech products and approaches are being used to improve the level of water supply either e.g. using nanotech for desalination. Agriculture and food production are also set to benefit from sustained research and development of nanotech application to agriculture.Defence and Security applications Defence and security have long inspired the emergence of technologies perhaps because societies have ofte n been reconfigured by conflict. The practical or even just the potential applications of nanotechnology to defence and security either in troops weaponry and equipment or in intelligence continue to profoundly affect society. 5A fundamental concern for society is who controls the resulting advances of nanotechnology thus raising legal and ethical issues. Studies show that society needs to respond at a faster pace by being involved right from the get-go, putting in place and redefining policy mechanisms, command and control of these technologies 10.Education and Culture A combination of nanotechnology and other contemporary technologies such as bioengineering and Information Technology portends a true Age of Transitions for society as has been argued by some experts 7 a time when social structures and cultures are rapidly reconfigured and reengineered by a rapid technological evolution and eventual revolution.RoboticsRobotics is area of emerging technologies that involves the st udy, design, construction and operation of robot system(s). Slightly variable definitions of a robot to grasp humanlike characteristics describe a broadened modern concept of robotics 13.The application of Robotics, since the first practical realization of the concept in the early 60s, has increasingly worked its way into many sectors of todays business and society. The primary application of robotics has mostly to do with tasks that are either too grave or those that are too repetitive and too finespun for humans. In essence, robotics seeks to stir human performance. The general areas in business and society that continue to benefit from application of robotics in include 14Industrial, mainly in manufacturing either in tiny or repetitive assembly repair among others so far the most established application of robotics.Healthcare performing complex and precise surgical procedures such as Radiosurgery, Tele-robotic surgery among other medical procedures.Aerospace, Military and security performance of solemn and precise tasks relating to defence and security example of practical applications include the unmanned aerials and ground vehicles for surveillance, reconnaissance and geographic expedition of hazardous environment.Agriculture Disaster Recovery and Infrastructure again, the use of robotics for the recovery and sometime repair of dangerous environments and difficult to reach areas of infrastructure respectively.Consumer Robotics for day-to-day tasks and service provision the least developed area of robotics but picking up pace.Impact of Robotics on businessThe robotics principle inspiration of enhancing human performance and the fundamental objectives of increasing productivity and quality in business foreshadow the impact of robotics in business. The application of forward-moving robotics to various areas of traditional business has and continues to compel change in business design and approach. Business and organizations concern in the prim ary areas of robotics application have had to reconfigure themselves inspired by this change.In many ways, the impact of robotics on manufacturing business foreshadows the impact of robotics on almost all other areas of industrial robotics application. Manufacturing thus may well be viewed as representative of other areas Infrastructure development, Agriculture and healthcare.Manufacturing the extensive industrial application of robotics has, to a large extent, improved the efficiency of manufacturing businesses that have properly invested themselves in the potency of robotics. Case studies on some of these businesses show marked improvements in their performance, quality. Chrysler, for example, a leading automobile manufacturer was able to cut cost and improve its flexibility by remodelling its business for the market and by leveraging advanced robotics. Their application of robotics enabled them to cost-efficiently give away a wider range of products 16.The increasing need for ap plication of robotics in other manufacturing areas like packaging and touch is also opening up new business opportunities for robotics. The trend in manufacturing now is that more and more businesses are inclined to robotics and related automation for their existence.However, although the benefits of applying robotics are worthwhile on the long term for business, the initial investments are, more often than not, prohibitive. This has been the case and will probably continue to hound business into the next generation. mate advances in complimentary technologies however likely to mitigate problem.In healthcare, apart from the performance of repetitive tasks, the cutting edge application of robotics is mostly towards the performance of highly complex surgical procedures. However, robotics application here is tightly bound to the human in the sense that robots are not autonomous.Consumer robotics is a fairly new application area that involves a much smaller scale of applications compa red to industrial. This might be at the product statistical distribution level like dispensing machinesMilitary and security investments in robotics for military and security use are leading the advance in robotics as a technology through research and development. Often, the output of these advances translates to new business opportunities when converted or modified for civilian applications. Contemporary technologies such the internet and wireless telecommunication were first military and defence technologies before they became commercialized for business.Aerospace applications Robotics application in exploratory research and development like aerospace are also contributing to the advancement of robotics and in turn inspiring fresh business area applications such as infrastructure maintenance and transport.Impact of Robotics on societyAs mentioned above, robotics portends to improve and enhance human performance. To some extent, this does impact society positively. A societys healt h and safety is improved for instance by the use of robots to perform dangerous and hazardous tasks.However, large scale industrial robotics application may mean job losses especially when robots begin to replace human workers. The implications here are far reaching. Apart from the short term effects of conflict, there is the long term reconfiguration of society to accommodate the changes. In the long term, education and training and other related areas have to be reviewed.There are also broader societal issues such as the need for environment sustainability where robotics portends both positive and negative impacts.The application of robotics in military defence, weaponry and security such as the use unmanned aerial vehicles for surveillance revisits the concern of who controls technologies thus raising legal and ethical issues.Robotics and other complimentary technologies continue to influence social evolution by directly effecting change in education and social culture. In other worlds robotics has contributed to the change in the way we live our lives. There is an increasing societal dependence on technologies even though they dont resolve age old societal challenges such as poverty and justice.ConclusionEmerging of technologies often invite examen in the interest of business and society the ultimate consumers of technology. Nanotechnology and Robotics are no different. This scrutiny, as has been illustrated in this report, often takes the form of assessments on the impacts of these technologies on business and society. Again, as shown, assessing and articulating the impacts of technologies is not a simple exercise especially when they are just emerging. It is often a process informed by diverse and sometimes argue views from leading experts and representatives from society and business. In the end, the impacts identified, positive or negative, define the viability of an emerging technology.The assessment of Nanotechnology and Robotics in this report, perhaps because of the width and depth of their potential applications, yields an overall positive outlook for business and society and in turn for their success as emerging technologies.