As key technologies of the 21st century, nanotechnologies and new materials are important drivers of innovation. As cross-sectional technologies, they stimulate central industrial areas such as medicine, renewable energies, power electronics and the maritime economy. In addition, they are also an important factor for the competitiveness and innovative ability of small and medium-sized companies.

Although nanotechnologies have been used successfully in a large number of applications and products for decades, many questions remain unanswered and so the numerous opportunities continue to face corresponding challenges and risks. For example, the wide range of possible uses of nanotechnology leads to a variety of products that is difficult to understand and can no longer be clearly identified, classified and regulated. In the public eye, many of these products are seen as revolutionary and profitable on the one hand, and threatening or dangerous on the other.

With the workshop series “Nanotechnology in Germany – Current Opportunities and Challenges“, the association Nano in Germany e.V. (in cooperation with the Cluster Nanotechnology, the North German Initiative Nanotechnology e.V. and the Leibniz Research Network Advanced Materials Safety) creates an open forum to jointly discuss current topics and developments in nanotechnology.

The different facets of the respective topics will be highlighted in several online workshops with contributions from applied science, federal agencies and authorities as well as real life examples from industry. The series intends to lay the foundation for a further necessary discourse on the topic of nanotechnology through an open exchange between industry, authorities and research, in order to develop a general and sustainable strategy for the effective and safe implementation of nanotechnologies.

In different sessions the following socially relevant questions are discussed:

• Innovation: How can small companies benefit from the economic potential of nanotechnology?
• Regulations: Can regulations control the risks of nanotechnology without jeopardizing their economic potential?
• Safety: What effects can nanoparticles have on our health and how can safety for people and the environment be guaranteed if necessary?
• Recycling: Do nanomaterials pose a risk to the environment or can they help advance the energy transition?
• Safe-by-Design: Who bears what responsibility for the safe handling of new materials and can regulations enforce this?
• Upscaling: What challenges arise when scaling research and development results to industrial scales?
• Communication: How do we communicate complex and sometimes contradictory information in order to achieve broad acceptance of new nanotechnology?

Agenda and more details of this workshop series are available here.

Our colleague Yvonne Kohl (FRAUNHOFER IBMT) attended the online lecture and discussion series “Dialog Nanotechnologie” on April 27^th, which had around 30 participants. She gave a talk in the session “Sustainable and circular product development”. Under the title “Safety by design of nanomaterials: a way from lab to production”, she presented SABYDOMA’s work. After introducing the general concept of the SABYDOMA project, Chip-based screening approaches were described and results and application examples of the fluidic platform developed at the IBMT were presented.