The next, long-term wave of innovation and growth will be formed by symbioses among the rapidly emerging nanosciences and nanotechnologies, biotechnology and life-sciences, and information and computer technology together with cognitive sciences and neurotechnologies — the ‘NBIC cluster’. Cycles of technology-induced social and economic change have accelerated in recent decades and are likely to move even faster, there is exponential rather than linear growth for some areas of technological progress.
Nanosciences, nanotechnologies, materials and new production technologies (NMP) have the potential to contribute significantly to the move from a resource intensive economy to a knowledge-intensive economy. They will lead to new applications, new business models, new products, new production patterns, new services, new processes, substitution of resources, higher material and energy efficiency and changes in technological competitiveness. These effects may bring along significant growth of value added, employment or trade balance in the European industry. E.g. new job opportunities will be provided, existing jobs will be protected, but also some may disappear through substitution.
These new technologies have a part to play in the shift towards resource-efficient, low-carbon urban economies and ecological impact of urbanization. Examples include nanotechnologies for energy conversion and storage; replacement of toxic materials; new, lighter materials; environmental remediation and the use of enzymes in renewable energy production. Technological advances that enable machines to perform human tasks could have implications for society, in particular influencing inequality. Increasing use of machines may depress wages for some, while boosting demand for highly skilled labor and low-skilled service-sector work. The resulting polarization of job opportunities could contribute to greater earnings inequality. By reducing demand for labor relative to machinery, new technologies can also mean that returns to production increasingly accrue to the owners of physical capital. It will enhance existing economies, industries, manufacturing and introduce new ones.
Biomimetic resource management refers to a way of dealing with resources that is inspired by living nature regarding materials, structures, and processes. Such an approach offers innovative new ways to deal with heavy metal-loaded waste effluents and provides raw materials for industry. Plants and microorganisms are used to redefine ‘waste’ to ‘revenue’ for new industries. Bioremediation provides a sustainable waste management technique that uses organisms to remove heavy metals from contaminated water through a variety of different processes. Biosorption involves the use of biomass, such as plant extracts and microorganisms (bacteria, fungi, algae, yeast), and represents a low-cost and environmentally friendly method of bioremediation and resource management. Biosorption based biosynthesis is proposed as a means of removing heavy metals from wastewaters and soils as it aids the development of heavy metal nanoparticles that may have an application within the technology industry. Phytomining provides a further green method of managing the metal content of wastewater. These approaches represent a viable means of removing toxic chemicals from the effluent produced during the process of manufacturing, and the bioremediation process, furthermore, has the potential to save metal resources from depletion. Biomimetic resource management comprises bioremediation, biosorption, biosynthesis, phytomining, and further methods that provide innovative ways of interpreting waste and pollutants as raw materials for research and industry, inspired by materials, structures, and processes in living nature.