NanoFabNet EU2030 Strategic Plan for Nanofabrication

NanoFabNet EU2030 Strategic Plan for Nanofabrication 

Project Deliverable by BNN
Project: NanoFabNet, Grant Agreement No. 886171  (Topic “Nanotechnologies, Advanced Materials, Biotechnology and Advanced Manufacturing and Processing – Foundations for tomorrow’s Industry”)
Date of publication: August 2022
Area: Innovation Support
BNN team involvement: Johanna K. Scheper

The field of nanofabrication has been developing rapidly over the past three decades. As production and application of nanotechnologies and nanomaterials has been spreading to a variety of areas, the issue of sustainability of nanofabrication gains importance. Expertise is required from toxicology and ecotoxicology to risk assessment of nanomaterials and/or ethics in nanotechnology, and sustainable nanofabrication professionals need adequate infrastructures, skills, equipment, characterisation and metrology in order to adequately develop their technologies or products.

Within the H2020 project NanoFabNet, BNN spearheaded development of the “NanoFabNet EU2030 Strategic Plan for Sustainable Nanofabrication”. It highlights the findings and content of 6 detailed strategies and action plans, conducted and provided by the NanoFabNet over the past two years (i.e., 2020-2022).

Figure 1. The NanoFabNet 2030 Strategic Roadmap compiles the findings of 6 different strategies and implementation roadmaps that provide response to the challenges and opportunities identified in the sustainable nanofabrication field.

The report begins with a brief overview of the current landscape of sustainable nanofabrication, before proceeding to the identification of the different types of challenges that the field faces, together with the description of a set of actions and activities, to be implemented in three pre-defined time-ranges: i) short term (2022-2025), ii) medium term (2025-2030) and, iii) long term (2030 onwards).

Aware of the potential that nanofabrication can offer to the European industry in the coming years, the report ends providing an outlook on how the NanoFabNet Strategic Plan guides towards a stronger European ecosystem in the field of sustainable nanofabrication and describes how the strategic plan contributes to approach and solve the challenges enumerated by EU Commission in the text of the ‘DT – NMBP-12-2019 – Sustainable Nano-Fabrication’ topic:

1. to cover sustainability in terms of human health, ethics, environment and life-cycle analysis
2. to cover research and new standards for functional nanoparticles, nanomaterials, components, devices and processes, as well as to establish common approaches for nomenclature, metrology, measurements and characterisation applied for nanomaterials by design
3. to link and consolidate existing infrastructures, as well as to provide access across Europe to services and infrastructures for SMEs, and support the development of the necessary skills for this new industry
4. to build a network of existing EU funded projects and initiatives, which will solve common issues through cross-project collaboration, and will strengthen technology take-up across Europe and
5. to establish an international cooperation in particular with the nanomanufacturing programme of USA-NSF and the NNI Signature initiative of Sustainable Nanomanufacturing.

The action plan is dedicated to the sustainable nanofabrication stakeholders, as well as the broader community, and its main goal is to provide and introduce the sustainable nanofabrication community to a framework and set of actions that shall enable the field to grow, remain on track and aligned to the objectives of the European Commission and move towards the objectives defined by the European Green Deal.

We hope this report provides value to those interested in addressing sustainability in nanofabrication as well as awaken their interest on the newly formed NanoFabNet Hub – a new network initiative for all matters and concerns pertaining to sustainable high-tech innovation and the successful incorporation of it into the complex, large-scale high-value industries by bringing together governmental and academic laboratories with large industries and SMEs.

➜  Follow these links to download the EU 2030 Strategic Plan for Nanofabrication – a NanoFabNet Roadmap, or to find out more about the NanoFabNet and its newly launched NanoFabNet Hub.

For related publications, view the Implementation Roadmap for EU Project Collaboration here.