Australia

As a country with a proud history of development and adoption of scientific and technological advances, it is not surprising that Australia has recognized the competitive advantages and economic benefits of nanotechnology research and development (R&D) activities. The federal and state governments have made significant investments in the country's public and private nanotechnology capabilities.

Strategies and activities designed to foster innovation and the commercialization of nanotechnology-related applications have included the 2007 implementation of a National Nanotechnology Strategy (NNS), investment in infrastructure, education, metrology, and investigations into the adequacy of existing regulatory arrangements; a more recent focus has been on public awareness and engagement activities. The strategic importance of nanotechnology to Australia's future has also ensured that the country is now home to over 80 nanotechnology-focused businesses. Australia is also an active participant in international attempts at harmonization of societal and regulatory responses to nanotechnology, such as the International Standards Organisation and Codex Alimentarius Commission.

Nanotechnology as a field of scientific endeavor is not new to the Australian research or industry sectors, with the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) having begun working on molecular composite materials during the mid-1980s. Commercial applications followed, with one of CSIRO's earliest nanoproducts, a food-packaging film using nanocomposite materials, entering the Australian marketplace in 1991. This pioneering work of CSIRO provided a strong foundation for other nanotechnology scientific and policy developments in Australia during the 1990s.

It was during this period that scientists from the Co-operative Research Centre for Molecular Engineering and Technology, with the support of the Australian government and industry, created a purpose-built functioning nanomachine (or synthetic biosensor) for use as a molecular sensor in, for example, the fields of medicine and food safety. Research into advanced supercapacitors undertaken by CSIRO and Energy Storage Systems gained momentum, resulting in the incorporation of Cap-XX (1999).

These advances, along with those made by, for example, the University of New South Wales's Semiconductor Nanofabrication Facility, showed the Australian government that nanotechnology had the capacity to be an enabling technology, and one that traditional sectors, such as the manufacturing industry, could benefit from. By the late 1990s, it was recognized that while Australia had the expertise and workforce to capitalize on nanotechnological advances, significant investment in infrastructure was needed. Also needed was a national strategy to encourage coordination between the states, the university sector, the research community and industry more generally in order to capitalize on the expertise and ensure maximum commercial impact and to position Australia as a global leader in fields in which nanotechnology could be utilized.