Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book focuses on nano-based sensor technologies. There have been at least two watershed moments in the modern governance of emerging technologies, linked to issues of the embedding of those technologies in society. First, the tribulations of genetic modification (GM) technology, especially in agriculture in the 1990s, dealt a blow to the progressivist perspective of technologists and technology promotors. Second, the advent of nanoscience and nanotechnology in the early 2000s prompted new calls for specially adapted modes of governance. 'Responsible development' became a touchstone of law and policy in the field, which later evolved into the principle of Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI). Invariably, new technologies, especially those bringing more disruptive forms of change, pose a challenge to the goals of Better Regulation.