Nanoforum

The Website http://www.nanoforum.org is the European Nanotechnology Gateway, and it allows free and easy access to registered users (registration is free) to a vast array of information on aspects of nanoscience and nanotechnology. Originally funded by the European Commission through FP5 (Fifth Framework Program), to help promote interest in nanotechnology within the European Union (EU), the site, and the organization running it, started operating as a European Economic Interest Grouping in July 2007.

[Page 485]This allowed it to have a legal status to enable it to enter into contracts with other parties, as well as be eligible for EU-funded projects. Operating from its headquarters at the Institute of Nanotechnology in central Glasgow, Scotland, with Dr. Mark Morrison as the Nanoforum EEIG manager, the Website states that it has more than 15,000 registered users, and attracts 100,000 visits each month. The main emphasis for the Website was to allow free access to information on nanotechnology, much of it only published online, allowing an organized search for information. Although much of the information involves work in the member states of the EU, it does include Canadian, U.S., and other researchers, and is by no means limited to work by or of interest to people within the EU. The result is that the site has been very useful for following new developments and inventions connected with nanoscience, and allows information access easily and quickly.

In addition, it has been particularly important to study the development of nanoscience, with users able to study how the field has been totally transformed. The earliest articles available are from the 1990s, although the vast majority were posted in the late 2000s. There are some similarities with NanoEthicsBank, although nanoEthics-Bank tends to specialize in issues connected with moral, philosophical, and ethical issues in the field of nanoscience, whereas the Nanoforum includes a much wider range of material, including press releases and “works in progress” by researchers. One section of the Nanoforum Website is devoted to the Nanotechnology Education Tree, which has helped simplify the study of nanotechnology by dividing it into a number of fields: health, the environment, energy, electronics, and “modern life.” Because of the number of users, the site also has attracted advertising and news about nanoscience-related events and research programs, allowing the site to be used for easy networking and the sharing of news.