• Journal of Science and Technology Studies
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.91-116
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• 2007

Under the strong support of the government, nanotechnology(NT) has been expanded rapidly in Korea. Korea was one of the countries that followed the National Nanotechnology Initiative(NNI) of the US very soon and set up their own policies for NT. This paper argues that the main rationale of the Korean version of NNI was so called 'catch-up strategy' by entering at the early stage of new technology. It stimulated scientists and engineers from various disciplines to do researches and to establish new education programs in NT. Unlike IT and BT, however, such fast and big investment in NT was approved by the public in the sense that there has been few criticism on the governmental NT policies and potential harness of NT. With the relative uninterestedness of the civil society and competititveness seeking policy in NT, ELSI in NT was not included in the Korean version of NNI and the results of technology assessments on NT were not introduced to the public at all.