Major economic powers consider nanotechnology to be strategically important

According to r ecent research, major economic powers, including the US, China, and EU members, are making significant investments in nanotechnology in an effort to use it to their advantage strategically.

While many economies have been investing in nanotechnology for decades, according to GlobalData's Nanotechnology report, the major investments being made today are intended to secure a competitive edge in the global market, stimulate economic growth, and address important societal challenges.

Since its founding in 2000, the US has invested $43 billion in the National Nanotechnology Initiative; an additional $2.2 billion is planned for 2024. Additionally, China has been funding research for more than 20 years, and its 13th Five-Year Plan (2016–20) includes nanotechnology as a key theme. The paper goes on to say that the EU is sponsoring, regulating, and launching cooperative projects to help its nanotechnology sector.

The paper provided a definition for the technology, stating that nanotechnology, or nanotech, is the design, manufacture, and use of materials, systems, and devices whose size and shape are restricted to the nanoscale. It entails working with matter at the atomic or molecular level, usually between one and one hundred nanometers. When created at the nanoscale, these novel materials and systems frequently exhibit distinctive qualities that are absent from macroscale production.

The report's analytics show that interest in nanotechnology is growing year over year, with well over 100,000 research publications published in 2023 compared to just over 40,000 in 2010.

Even with increased interest and funding, the technology's commercialization differs greatly by industry. Technology and healthcare are the two industries with the highest number of published patents; declining numbers in the latter indicate possible maturation. Agriculture, clothing, consumer goods, energy, defense, and food are some other industries with uses for nanotechnology; nevertheless, there is significantly less patent activity in these areas.

There are several explanations offered for the disparities in commercialization levels, such as the various phases of industry adoption, the difficulties and obstacles associated with bringing products utilizing nanotechnology to market, and the differing opinions of consumers toward the technology.

The research also points out that gaps in monitoring and enforcement have resulted from the regulatory landscape becoming unclear as technology advances faster than previously established frameworks.