Nanotechnology: New Horizons, Approaches, and Challenges

Abstract

In recent decades, the Iranian Supreme Leader and various presidents of the Islamic Republic (IR) of Iran have emphasized the development of science and technology within the country. As a part of supporting policies and laws for technology development, Iranian policy makers have stressed the importance of emerging technologies such as nanotechnology. The reason for emphasizing nanotechnology in particular is its wide applicability in various production processes and the societal implications of the technology in many domains including economics, health, and the environment (Ghazinoory and Ghazinouri 2009). In addition to the important multifaceted usefulness and societal implications of nanotechnology, its development in Iran warrants serious study for another reason. For the first time in Iranian history, and particularly after Iran’s revolution in 1979, the very advocates and policy makers who were focused on the technological development of the country were able to plan how to enter into an emerging technology field before the country faced a wave of imported products produced with that new technology. Accordingly, reviewing these experiences should both provide useful lessons and models for the development of other technologies in Iran and benefit technology policy-making practices in other developing countries.