Recent Content Related to Other technologies

Green Goo: Nanotechnology Comes Alive!

Submitted by ETC Staff on

The first and greatest impact of nano-scale technologies may come with the merger of nanotech and biotech - a newly recognized discipline called nanobiotechnology. While Gray Goo has grabbed the headlines, self-replicating nanobots are not yet possible. The more likely future scenario is that the merger of living and non-living matter will result in hybrid organisms and products that end up behaving in unpredictable and uncontrollable ways - get ready for "Green Goo!"

The Big Down

Submitted by ETC Staff on

Atomtech - Technologies Converging at the Nano-scale

The Big Down: Atomtech - Technologies Converging at the Nano-scale, is the first comprehensive and critical analysis of nanotechnology for civil society and policymakers. The 80-page report seeks to widen civil society's and policymakers' focus beyond biotech and genetically engineered crops, and to catalyze widespread public debate on the societal impacts of nanotechnology.

Related Issues: 
Corporate Concentration
Patents & Biopiracy
Militarism & Dissent
tracking technology
Nanotechnology
Genomics & Biotechnology
Other technologies
Farmers' Rights & Food Sovereignty
Related Fora: 
Intellectual property: WIPO, EPO, USPTO

New Enclosures

Submitted by ETC Staff on

Alternative Mechanisms to Enhance Corporate Monopoly and BioSerfdom in the 21st Century

This Communique identifies new mechanisms - ranging from remote sensing technologies, biological monopolies, and legal contracts - that are being developed by a broad range of industries to strengthen corporate dominance over new technologies. The political, practical and technical uncertainties surrounding intellectual property are increasingly unacceptable to industry - and that is why companies are developing new tools for monopoly control- what ETC group calls "New Enclosures."

RAFI becomes ETC Group

Submitted by ETC Staff on

International Advocacy Group Changes Name, President, and Widens Agenda

ETC Group (pronounced etcetera) is the new name for the former Rural Advancement Foundation International (RAFI). The full legal name will be Action Group on Erosion, Technology and Concentration . The official name change took place September 1st as the organization began its 16th year of activity.

Etcetera: We had hundreds of name suggestions, Pat Mooney, Executive Director reports, referring to the name contest launched on the RAFI website earlier this year. A surprisingly large percentage of the suggestions were actually complimentary, Hope Shand, Research Director, recalls. The most common suggestion was not to change our name at all. (The change was advised in order to secure the advocacy group s non-profit status in the United States. The ETC Group is incorporated both in Europe and in Canada, with headquarters in Winnipeg.

ETC Century: Erosion, Technological Transformation, and Corporate Concentration in the 21st Century

Submitted by ETC Staff on

This issue {1999:1-2 [2001]} of Development Dialogue, published by the Dag Hammarskjold Foundation, was authored by Pat Mooney. The ETC Century discusses trends in technological transformation, environmental and cultural erosion, and the re-organization of economic power into the hands of high-tech global oligopolies. This publication is 128 pages.

Related Issues: 
Corporate Concentration
Militarism & Dissent
Nanotechnology
Other technologies
Biodiversity & Cultural Diversity

RAFI and RAFI-USA Announce Plans of Name Change for Globally-focused RAFI

Submitted by ETC Staff on

Twenty-three years old, one of the world's most experienced biodiversity/biotech advocacy organizations is broadening its focus and changing its name, the directors of RAFI and of RAFI-USA announced today.

Long history: RAFI and RAFI-USA staff have been working together for over 20 years. Work on agricultural genetic resources that began under the mandate of the International Coalition for Development Action (ICDA), a Brussels-based civil society organization (CSO), in 1977 quickly merged with similar work under the auspices of the Rural Advancement Fund in the southern United States and led to the formation of the Rural Advancement Foundation International (RAFI) as a Netherlands incorporated CSO in 1985. Although the international work began to be known as RAFI, the work was still under the auspices of the Rural Advancement Fund which fully supported the work through its staffing and fundraising efforts.

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