The Use of Foreign Examples in Research Policy: Public Funding for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology in France

Abstract

This article examines the influence of major international paradigms on nanoscience and nanotechnology funding policies (nanoS & T) pursued in France during the 2000s (1999–2013). It is concerned with how foreign examples become exemplary (in the sense of “exemplar” as used by Kuhn 1990) to the extent of being regarded as public policy solutions. Using extensive qualitative research in the field of nanoS & T, the article shows that the paradigmatic value of foreign examples derives from the processes of “editing” (Sahlin and Wedlin 2008), i.e., de-contextualization and re-contextualization which establishes their relevance for certain dimensions of science policy. It highlights three key approaches to this editing work—one which creates an example of a prototype for public policy, one that lists comparable examples more systematically to define a concept, and finally one which borrows from management techniques—and identifies the key actors in the development of national programmes and the creation of local innovation clusters in nanoS & T.