Meyer M. "What do we know about innovation in nanotechnology? Some propositions about an emerging field between hype and path-dependency" SCIENTOMETRICS 70 (3). MAR 2007. p.779-810

[Eugene Garfield]

E-mail Addresses: m.s.meyer at sussex.ac.uk 

TITLE:          What do we know about innovation in nanotechnology? Some
                propositions about an emerging field between hype and path-
dependency
                (Article, English)
AUTHOR:         Meyer, M
SOURCE:         SCIENTOMETRICS 70 (3). MAR 2007. p.779-810 SPRINGER,
                DORDRECHT

KEYWORDS+:       TECHNICAL CHANGE; NANO-SCIENCE; TECHNOLOGY; PATTERNS;
                INTERDISCIPLINARITY; COLLABORATION; EXPLORATION;
                NANOSCIENCE; DIRECTIONS; DOMAINS

ABSTRACT:       This contribution formulates a number of propositions
about the emergence of novel nanoscience and nanotechnology (N&N).
Seeking to complement recent work that aims to define a research agenda and 
draws on general insights from the innovation literature, this paper aims 
to synthesize knowledge from innovation-related studies of the N&N field. 
More specifically, it is suggested that N&N is often misconstrued as either 
a field of technology or an area of (broadly) converging technologies while 
evidence to date suggests rather that N&N be considered a set of inter-
related and overlapping about not necessarily merging technologies. The 
role of instrumentation in connecting the various N&N fields is underlined. 
Finally, the question is raised whether change in N&N tends to be 
incremental rather than discontinuous, being the result of technological 
path-dependencies and lock-ins in industry- typical search regimes that are 
only slowly giving way to more boundary- crossing activities.

AUTHOR ADDRESS: M Meyer, Univ Sussex, SPRU, Freeman Ctr, Brighton BN1 9QE,
                E Sussex, England