nanoscience and society - IAP/TU Wien

34 Australia
plasma technologies, surface technologies, superconductors,
and nanotechnology.
See Also: Germany; Nanoenabled Products in Commerce;
Nanomaterials; Nanomaterials in Commerce; Spintronics.
Further Readings
Sipper, Moshe. Machine Nature: The Coming Age of Bio­
Inspired Computing. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2002.
Technology Center of the Association of German Engineers.
http://www.vditz.de (cited May 2010).
Wilson, Edward O. The Future of Life. New York: Vintage,
2002.
Australia
Ille C. Gebeshuber
Vienna University of Technology
Mathias Getzlaff
University of Dusseldorf
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.
Nanotechnology Research
Despite the initial absence of a nationally coordinated
strategy, federal and state support increased over the
following years for nanotechnology-related research,
commercialization, and policy development. Within
the research community, key events included, for example,
the establishment of CSIRO's Nanotechnology
Centre (2001), the announcement by the Australian
Research Council (ARC) that nanotechnology would
be a priority area (2002), subsequent establishment of
24 nanotechnology-related research networks, and the