Abstract
If the nanotechnology research community wants to address the nano-orientation divide that Maclurcan identifies, it must find a way to re-orient itself to the needs of low-income communities. To illustrate the process of matching local needs in a developing country with nanotechnology capabilities, we reprint a chapter by David Grimshaw, Lawrence Guzda, and Jack Stilgoe, reporting on their efforts to find such a match in one community in Zimbabwe. Starting from the community’s articulation of its own needs, they did not quite reach an example or list of nanotechnologies that could help. But they did discover the importance of local expertise in monitoring that possibility, and the distancing of Northern expertise through the pull of commercial opportunities there.
Originally published in Savage et al. (eds.), Nanotechnology Applications for Clean Water, 2008: 535–549. Reprinted with permission from Elsevier.
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Grimshaw, D.J., Gudza, L.D., Stilgoe, J. (2010). How Can Nanotechnologies Fulfill the Needs of Developing Countries?. In: Cozzens, S., Wetmore, J. (eds) Nanotechnology and the Challenges of Equity, Equality and Development. Yearbook of Nanotechnology in Society, vol 2. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-9615-9_22
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