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Having witnessed the great GM debate from the perspective of a scientist turned communicator, I feel strongly that scientists should be fully informed as to the concerns and reservations of society and other experts about new applications of basic research. It is most important for scientists to be involved in the debate, not least in order to set some important frames of reference and definitions, the latter of which seem of crucial importance in nanotechnologies, which could easily be thought of as encompassing many unrelated research fields. Blurring of defining boundaries does not help in the public debate, but this is exactly what happened in the GM debate; before long GM had joined the ranks of pathogenic microbes (brought to the fore by food safety scares) as public enemy number one.
Andrew Moore, European Molecular Biology Organization, Germany

I'm very pleased that such a thorough study on nanoscience and most of all, nanotechnology is carried out and I look forward to the results! From my point of view, education is one of the most important things, i.e. providing the public - especially young people - with the critical thinking tools necessary to learn, understand, participate and use the overwhelming scientific information available especially in areas with high impact factor on society such as nantoechnology. To be able to distinguish between science fiction and scientific facts, to develop "broad thinking" skills while focusing on the real needs of society; to conceive knowledge-based societies, where science lies within consolidated moral and ethical frames, and within a global perspective; this is what is needed to really exploit the terrific advances in nanoscience, in a few words: ideas, structure (moral, legal, etc) and resources (good scientists, proper fundings, long term thinking, transparency, and so on.
Silvia Valussi, Forensic Science Service