Abstract
Nanotechnology merits having a major impact on the world economy because its applications will be used in virtually all sectors. Scientists, researchers, managers, investors and policy makers worldwide acknowledge this huge potential and have started the nano-race. The purpose of this paper is to analyse the state of the art of nanotechnology from an economic perspective, by presenting data on markets, funding, companies, patents and publications. It will also raise the question of how much of the nano-hype is founded on economic data and how much is based on wishful thinking. It focuses on a comparison between world regions, thereby concentrating on Europe and the European Union in relation to their main competitors — the United States and Japan and the emerging ‘nano-powers’ China and Russia.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Anquetil, P. (2005), The Impact of Nanotechnology, Susquehanna Financial Group.
Cientifica (2003), The Nanotechnology Opportunity Report.
European Commission (2004), Towards a European Strategy for Nanotechnology.
European Commission (2005), Some Figures about Nanotechnology R&D in Europe and Beyond, European Commission, Research DG.
European Commission (2005), Nanosciences and Nanotechnologies: An action plan for Europe for 2005 to 2009.
European Council (2002), Presidency Conclusions, Barcelona European Council, 15 and 16 March.
Fecht, H.-J., Ilgner, J., Köhler, T., Mietke, S., Werner, M. (2003), Nanotechnology Market and Company Report — Finding Hidden Pearls, WMtech Center of Excellence Micro and Nanomaterials, Ulm.
Glänzel, W., Meyer, M., du Plessis, M., Thijs, B., Magerman, B., Schlemmer, B., Debackere, K., Veugelers, R. (2003), Nanotechnology: Analysis of an Emerging Domain of Scientiifc and Technological Endeavour, Report of Steunpunt O&O Statistieken, K.U. Leuven, http://www.steunpuntoos.be/nanotech_domain_study.pdf
Hullmann, A., Meyer, M. (2003), Publications and patents in nanotechnology: An overview of previous studies and the state of the art, Scientometrics, 58(3): 507–527.
Igami, M. (2006), Bibliometric Indicators of Nanoscience Research, OECD working paper, presented at the NESTI working party, Berlin.
Lux Research (2004), The Nanotech Report 2004.
Lux Research (2006), Sizing Nanotechnology’s Value Chain.
Mitsubishi Research Institute (2002), cited by Kamei, S., Promoting Japanese-style Nanotechnology Enterprises.
NanoForum (2005), database on www.nanoforum.org
NanoInvestorNews (2005), database on www.nanoinvestornews.com
NanoLogue (2005), Engaging with Researchers and Ccivil Society Report from the Nanologue project, www.nanologue.net
National Science Foundation (NSF) (2001), cited by RedHerring, The Biotech Boom: The View from Here, online article of 5th November, 2001.
Paull, R., Wolfe, J., Hébert, P., Sinkula, M. (2003), Investing in nanotechnology, Nature Biotechnology, 21(10): 1145.
Roco M. C. (2003), Converging science and technology at the nanoscale: opportunities for education and training, Nature Biotechnology, 21(10): 1247–1249.
PriceWaterhouseCoopers (2005), Venture Capital data.
Scheu, M., Veefkind, V., Verbandt, Y., Molina Galan, E., Absalom R., Förster W. (2006), Mapping nanotechnology patents: The EPO approach, World Patent Information, 28: 204–211.
Thomson ISI database (2001), on http://www.esi-topics.com/nano
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
The views expressed in this document are entirely those of the author and do not necessarily represent the official position of the European Commission. For more information on nanotechnology at the European Commission, please visit http://cordis.europa.eu/nanotechnology
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Hullmann, A. Measuring and assessing the development of nanotechnology. Scientometrics 70, 739–758 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-007-0310-6
Received:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-007-0310-6