Economies, Commerce and Technological Transformation

A single technological innovation can bring about new labor forces, new commercial opportunities, and significant changes to an economy. For example, the development of the American railroad, which began in the 1830s, drew heavily on Chinese and Irish immigrants who contributed to the nation’s cultural and economic wealth. Railroad advances also aided other technological developments, including the telegraph, which depended on railroad tracks to send its signals. Transportation advances facilitated as well a variety of commercial opportunities, including businesses like Montgomery Ward and Sears, Roebuck & Co., which shipped goods to rural areas through mail-order catalogs. The railroad also fostered the growth of the real estate business, leading to the growth of new communities across the US.

In recent years, we have seen how advances in information technology have changed the ways in which consumers experience business transactions. With increasingly efficient ways of transmitting data over the Internet, consumers can shop for goods and make purchases on a whim. Labor can now be performed by a ‘connected’ global workforce; call centers in India and the Philippines provide customers in the US with technical support 24 hours a day. In many countries, the practice of waiting for business doors to open is an antiquated notion.

Nanotechnology will undoubtedly have significant impacts on our economies, industries, and our experiences as consumers. It will change the value of goods as well as how we are compensated for our labor. Whole economic systems may experience structural changes as different industries shift in strength and new relationships between researchers, industries, and investors are created. Lives will also be impacted on a daily level with changes in how labor is performed in the household and the workplace. Importantly, the specific effects that nanotechnology will have on local communities across the globe depend largely on the kinds of policies that are put in place to both regulate and stimulate this technology. Where some may perceive nanotechnology as an unknown, risky quantity that requires regulation, others see an enormous commercial opportunity that is itself placed at risk if regulation is too restrictive. Where some commentators see nanotechnology giving rise to whole new industries, others see it as a gradual evolution that will likely be embedded in and extend existing industry structures.