Nanotechnology is the manipulation of matter on a nanometre scale in order to engineer new materials and devices with superior chemical, physical, optical, electronic and/or biological properties.

Nanotechnology has far reaching implications for engineering, medicine, physics, biology, energy production and computing to list but a few; its commercial potential is widely recognised both at a European and a

wider international level, most notably by the USA government- whose annual federal research spending on nanotechnology is currently running at £1.3 billion.

However, there is much public uncertainty and caution about the relative merits and risks of nanotechnology. The challenge facing nanotechnologists is to push forwards the frontiers of research whilst retaining the confidence and support of the wider public.