Science and Technology Policy Institute

About: Science and Technology Policy Institute is a facility organization based out in Daejeon, South Korea. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Government & Public policy. The organization has 172 authors who have published 254 publications receiving 5775 citations.

Responsible research and innovation: From science in society to science for society, with society

Abstract: The term responsible (research and) innovation has gained increasing EU policy relevance in the last two years, in particular within the European Commission’s Science in Society programme, in the context of the Horizon 2020 Strategy. We provide a brief historical overview of the concept, and identify three distinct features that are emerging from associated discourses. The first is an emphasis on the democratic governance of the purposes of research and innovation and their orientation towards the ‘right impacts’. The second is responsiveness, emphasising the integration and institutionalisation of established approaches of anticipation, reflection and deliberation in and around research and innovation, influencing the direction of these and associated policy. The third concerns the framing of responsibility itself in the context of research and innovation as collective activities with uncertain and unpredictable consequences. Finally, we reflect on possible motivations for responsible innovation itself.

Nanomedicines: addressing the scientific and regulatory gap

Abstract: Nanomedicine is the application of nanotechnology to the discipline of medicine: the use of nanoscale materials for the diagnosis, monitoring, control, prevention, and treatment of disease. Nanomedicine holds tremendous promise to revolutionize medicine across disciplines and specialties, but this promise has yet to be fully realized. Beyond the typical complications associated with drug development, the fundamentally different and novel physical and chemical properties of some nanomaterials compared to materials on a larger scale (i.e., their bulk counterparts) can create a unique set of opportunities as well as safety concerns, which have only begun to be explored. As the research community continues to investigate nanomedicines, their efficacy, and the associated safety issues, it is critical to work to close the scientific and regulatory gaps to assure that nanomedicine drives the next generation of biomedical innovation.

A "carbonizing Dragon" China's fast growing CO2 emissions revisited

Abstract: China’s annual CO2 emissions grew by around 4 billion tonnes between 1992 and 2007. More than 70% of this increase occurred between 2002 and 2007. While growing export demand contributed more than 50% to the CO2 emission growth between 2002 and 2005, capital investments have been responsible for 61% of emission growth in China between 2005 and 2007. We use structural decomposition analysis to identify the drivers for China’s emission growth between 1992 and 2007, with special focus on the period 2002 to 2007 when growth was most rapid. In contrast to previous analysis, we find that efficiency improvements have largely offset additional CO2 emissions from increased final consumption between 2002 and 2007. The strong increases in emissions growth between 2002 and 2007 are instead explained by structural change in China’s economy, which has newly emerged as the third major emission driver. This structural change is mainly the result of capital investments, in particular, the growing prominence of constructio...

Life cycle carbon footprint of shale gas: review of evidence and implications.

Abstract: The recent increase in the production of natural gas from shale deposits has significantly changed energy outlooks in both the US and world. Shale gas may have important climate benefits if it displaces more carbon-intensive oil or coal, but recent attention has discussed the potential for upstream methane emissions to counteract this reduced combustion greenhouse gas emissions. We examine six recent studies to produce a Monte Carlo uncertainty analysis of the carbon footprint of both shale and conventional natural gas production. The results show that the most likely upstream carbon footprints of these types of natural gas production are largely similar, with overlapping 95% uncertainty ranges of 11.0–21.0 g CO2e/MJLHV for shale gas and 12.4–19.5 g CO2e/MJLHV for conventional gas. However, because this upstream footprint represents less than 25% of the total carbon footprint of gas, the efficiency of producing heat, electricity, transportation services, or other function is of equal or greater importance...