Nano‐whatever: Do we really know where we are heading?

Abstract

AbstractThe principal applications of any sufficiently new and innovative technology have always been applications that were created by that technology, rather than being pre‐existing applications, where the new technology simply provided improvements. This historical trend is likely to remain true, and it is likely to be true specifically for the emerging nanotechnology.Applications yet to be created have been notoriously hard to predict. Historically, a rich set of new (and unforeseen) applications has almost always arisen; this is likely again to be the case in nanotechnology. Hence, nanotechnology should be expected to have a rich future with new applications, but the details of that future are resistant to prediction. The most we can do is to identify some general research directions that appear promising – and I will attempt that here – but for the ultimate outcome we will have to wait until it happens: The progress from new technology to new applications is opportunistic rather than deterministic. (© 2005 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)