Research and Markets : Comprehensive Overview of Government Policy and Initiatives in Nanotechnology Worldwide

DUBLIN, Ireland--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 18, 2005--Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/c20999) has announced the addition of Worldwide Government Policy and Initiatives in Nanotechnology 2005 to their offering

January 2000 saw a remarkable awakening in the acceptance of nanotechnology by hesitant governments and investment organizations. Almost overnight, nanotechnology gained credibility as a technology with the potential for commercial development. So what caused this dramatic change in attitude?

Primarily, the announcement by the Clinton administration of $500m in funding in support of a US National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI). This sum is not a fortune by US standards, and was by no means the first investment in nanoscale science and technology. The US and other countries had already been funding nano research and infrastructure for several years. The importance of the announcement lay in several factors. Funding was to support an initiative, approved of at the highest levels (with consequent wide-ranging implications for leverage); it was to be allocated to multidisciplinary projects; 'off-the-wall' projects (that had hitherto failed to gain support)would be encouraged; and a percentage of the funds had to be spent on outreach, i.e. public awareness action.

What galvanized the US to take this action?

Probably the dawning realization that nanotechnology could provide a route to

revolutionary ways of solving old problems, and that with this came immense implications for ownership of the almost boundless new intellectual property that would certainly be generated. If nanotechnology fulfilled its early promise of being a truly disruptive technology across the board, then the race would be on to bank as much intellectual property as possible. There was still time, even as late as 2000, to pull together research activities at the nanoscale, catalyse new ones, and build on existing infrastructure (the US had been sufficiently farsighted to offer continuing funding to a network of five nanofabrication facilities since 1994) in order to increase the volume of fundamental knowledge. The NNI approach by the US was a typically pragmatic one - setting out a series of 'Grand Challenges', thereby ensuring endpoints and real outputs. The NNI stimulated worldwide interest, and most developed countries now have fully fledged nanotechnology initiatives. Governments and research bodies worldwide are now strongly supporting both the research and development of nanotechnology, with over thirty countries putting national initiatives into place.

This report gives a comprehensive overview of government policy and initiatives in nanotechnology worldwide.

Contents include the following:-

Nanotechnology - What is it?

- United States

- Canada

- Europe

- Belgium

- Denmark

- Finland

- France

- Germany

- Ireland

- The Netherlands

- Sweden

- Switzerland

- United Kingdom

- Other Countries In Europe

- Eastern Europe

- Japan

- Taiwan

- Singapore

- South Korea

- Hong Kong

- China

- Australia

- Thailand

- Malaysia

For more information visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/c20999