Over the last decade, emerging technologies have no doubt influenced almost every sector of society and business. Whether by their promise of better society and business or by the curse of disquiet etched in their wings; Robotics and Nanotechnology, among a few other emerging technologies, have certainly played a part in shaping today’s business and society for tomorrow.

The emergence of Nanotechnology and Robotics was, to some extent, instigated and inspired by certain fundamental needs and pursuits of society and business. The business desire for cost-efficiency and society’s pursuit of sustainability in the form of better health care, a cleaner environment, security, etc are just a glimpse of what may have triggered the emergence of these among other technologies. However, the technologies’ success, or lack of it, is to a large extent dependent on, the overall short and long term, how well they respond to the primary needs and pursuits of businesses and society.

This report focuses on Nanotechnology and Robotics discussing some of their varied range of practical, theoretical and experimental applications. The report, in essence, draws from the diverse applications of these two technologies, their implications and impacts on businesses and society hitherto and perhaps in the near future. The analysis, also acknowledges and draws from lessons learnt in preceding and contemporary technologies such as genetic engineering and nuclear energy. The analysis shows that the success of the technologies depends on their close evolutionary interaction with their resident businesses and society which are also changing in response albeit at a different pace.

Introduction

The 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 today’s 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 two among other technologies. However, just as their preceding 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 impact they portend for business and society.

Robotics and Nanotechnology are two among the foremost of countless emerging technologies ushered into the new century 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 enormous and diverse making it even more 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 continue 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 but nonetheless important investments by society.

Nano-scale technology or Nanotechnology has been defined generally as “the creation of functional materials, devices, and systems through control of matter on the nanometer (1 to 100+ nm) length scale and the exploitation of novel properties and phenomena developed at that scale.” [1]

Nanotechnology, just as many other technologies before, has especially pledged 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 alike especially for society. Some of the threats may well be known, anticipated and resolved in good 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 related, are going to succeed.

On the other hand, a robot is generally defined as “a reprogrammable, multifunctional manipulator designed to move material, parts, tools, or specialized devi