What Drives Innovation? Causes of and Consequences for Nanotechnologies

Nanotechnologies are expected to be the dominant general purpose technology of the next decades. Their market potential is immense and not only supply-side but especially demand-side arguments will have far reaching consequences for innovations. The latter may occur as increased miniaturization or via building completely new products, processes or services. Innovations in the field of nanotechnologies do not only affect productivity in downstream sectors but these feed back to nanotechnologies thereby inducing circles of continuing innovation. Demand for nano-components mainly arises from firms while private demand is assigned to final products, processes or services that are augmented by nanotechnologies. Due to the technology’s controversial character, the consumer’s attitude towards risk and technology affects private demand and this may either spur or hamper innovation. The paper aims to unravel how these complex interdependencies and feedback mechanisms affect overall innovation in downstream sectors that is induced by nanotechnologies and how this for its part affects further improvements of nanotechnologies.