In June 2004, representatives from 25 countries and the European Union (EU) met in Alexandria, Virginia, for an international dialogue on the responsible research and development of nanotechnology. The participants called for the creation of institutional mechanisms to foster an ongoing dialogue, the exploration on new governance tools and structures for nanotechnology oversight, the development of data-sharing mechanisms, and the need to expand the dialogue well beyond the scientific community to include industry and civil society actors.

This meeting was followed by a preparatory meeting in Brussels in 2005, a second meeting in Japan in 2006, and a third meeting in Brussels in March 2008. Along the way, attempts were made to develop a rather straightforward, high-level international code of conduct governing the responsible development of nanotechnology, but no binding code or agreement has emerged after four years of discussions. I mention this to illustrate the often long and tortuous path needed to bring countries together around a common set of challenges.