April 22, 2009: For the past four years, researchers from four different French institutions have joined forces to create the NanoTrendChart to assess development of nanosciences and technologies worldwide.

NanoTrendChart received about $400,000 over a four-year period from the French National Research Agency (ANR).

NanoTrendChart analyses different dimensions of the evolution of Nanosciences and technologies to support and guide firms, public decision makers and other stakeholders who have a vested interest in these developments.

“Our team of 12 researchers is creating a tool that will enable different key actors in the field to keep track of the worldwide evolution of nanotechnologies,” said Vincent Mangematin, project leader and professor at Grenoble Ecole de Management. “Our objective is to produce a nanotech map to understand the socio-economic impact of nanotech developments.”

The project team deals with 3 basic questions:

• Where are nanosciences and technologies most developed? Asia, including China, is predictably an interesting track to follow.
• Who develops the nanosciences and technologies?
• Finally, the aim is to identify the scientific subfields where nanotechnologies have developed the most.

“The tools that can help researchers produce hypotheses regarding these somewhat basic questions have been missing,” Mangematin said. “This is why the observatory of nanosciences and technologies has been established: To analyze the world of nanotechnologies retrospectively in order to be able to characterize ongoing trends within this scientific field.”