NANO STATISTICS

Note that statistics relating to the world of nanotechnology sometimes have to be approached with caution since it is not always easy to define nanotechnology's boundaries. Many technologies and areas of scientific research, especially in the biological sciences and biotechnology, are tending to be reclassified as nanotechnology. This has some justification because of the multidisciplinary nature of the subject and the synergies that will arise from this. As technologies mature, the term nanotechnology, with its current breadth of coverage, will likely be found to be too general and the current trend of grouping technologies under the one mantle will probably reverse.

Funding has grown at unprecedented rates in the last three years.

European nanoscience and nanotechnology spending in millions of euros (source: EC IST programme Future and Emerging Technologies, Technology Roadmap for Electronics)

Country	1997	1998	1999	2000
Austria	1.9	2.0	2.2	2.5
Belgium	0.9	1.0	1.1	1.2
Denmark		1.9	2.0	2.0
Finland	2.5	4.1	3.7	4.6
France	10.0	12.0	18.0	19.0
Germany	47.0	49.0	58.0	63.0
Greece	0.2	0.2	0.3	0.4
Ireland	0.4	0.4	0.5	3.5
Italy	1.7	2.6	4.4	6.3
Netherlands	4.3	4.7	6.2	6.9
Portugal	0.2	0.2	0.3	0.4
Spain	0.3	0.3	0.4	0.4
Sweden	2.2	3.4	5.6	5.8
United Kingdom	32.0	32.0	35.0	39.0
European Commission	23.0	26.0	27.0	29.0
Total	129.6	139.8	164.7	184.0