Biomedical Engineering Reference
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industry in R&D in Latin America is lagging behind private invest-
ments in North America, Europe, and Oceania. Thus, apart from
being a moral rule, the criterion demanding foreign investment in a
knowledge economy in less developed countries can also be used to
identify factors that need improvement.
4. Fair structures of global knowledge economy: The call for fair struc-
tures of the global knowledge economy is again a moral rule, which
may suffer from the fact that the term “fair structures” is not well
defined. As for international cooperation in nanotechnology, the
relevant structures of the global knowledge economy are mainly
outside the scope of those responsible for such nano-cooperation.
For example, the TRIPS agreement on intellectual property rights
in the World Trade Association and bilateral free trade agreements
between countries are greater determinants of who will benefit from
investment in nanoscience in Latin America than any foreign invest-
ment in the nanoresearch in the countries. Thus, again, this criterion
helps identify relevant dynamics rather than giving guidelines for
nanoresearch activities and policies.
5. Access to higher education and research jobs: A substantial part of the
benefits nanotechnology is expected to bring is in high-technology
employment and economic benefits for the companies selling prod-
ucts made with nanotechnology. On the down side, nanotechnology
is expected to reduce the demand for commodities and may make
unschooled labor superfluous. A precondition to participating in
the economic benefits nanotechnology is expected to bring is there-
fore access to higher education, especially in nanotechnology, and
at least in the near future to research jobs. In addition to allowing
students and researchers from less developed countries to study or
work in research in Western countries, investment in high-quality
(interdisciplinary) education and research infrastructure in less
developed countries is mandatory. As the case studies on nanotech-
nology in Argentina, Brazil, and Mexico show, the actual situation
needs improvement both for all students and researchers from those
countries and for deprived groups inside the countries. This crite-
rion is again a moral rule.
6. Target research to poverty and health-related problems: Apart from the
question of who gets access to jobs and economic benefits thanks to
nanotechnology, the choice for which applications will eventually be
enabled or improved thanks to nanotechnology can also be evalu-
ated from a perspective of fairness. Nussbaum's capability approach
prescribes a clearly moral choice for targeting the limited resources
for research to problems that benefit the weakest groups in soci-
ety: the poor and sick. Assessing the priorities in nanotechnology
research in Argentina, Brazil, and Mexico, it appears that relevant
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