Nanotechnology research concerns materials and devices whose properties are influenced by the size of their building-blocks, typically ten to several hundred nanometers. At the nanometer scale, novel properties appear which can be tuned by controlling the size of the individual constituents of the material or the device. Such features are highly attractive for technical applications in a variety of fields and are already finding use in advanced electronics to extremely hard paints.

New tools and processes to prepare and characterize such materials and devices are being developed all over the world. Thus Nanotechnology, with its high potential for innovation, stands a good chance of becoming one of the key technologies in the 21st century. The aim of this symposium is to bring together people from academia and industry to discuss the potential of this rapidly evolving field and to promote cooperation to develop the full potential of nanotechnology.