Lord Sainsbury of Turville

INTERNATIONAL STANDARDISATION ORGANISATION MEETING ON NANOTECHNOLOGY STANDARDISATION

I believe that of the development of standards for nanotechnologies is an important advance for the international community.

Nanotechnology is already a global industry which is growing with astonishing speed and the UK is proud to play an important role in securing its long term development.

It is currently estimated that the UK’s current annual turnover for all micro and nanotechnologies is £11bn per annum, supporting at least 20,000 jobs in the UK. We have also seen many estimates of the likely size of the global market for nanotechnology with estimates suggesting a 1 trillion dollar market by 2010.

As Minister for Science, I am aware that many countries have made enormous strides in nanotechnologies in recent years.

Within Europe, the European Commission has already published its strategy and action plan for the exploitation of nanosciences and nanotechnologies for the next four years. The concept of ‘European Technology Platforms’ for nanoelectronics and nanomedicines has been developed, which will lead to better integration across the member states and support the European manufacturing base in emerging technologies. This important work started during Framework 6 and will continue into Framework 7 at the beginning of 2007.

Closer to home, the UK Government has supported the development of nanotechnologies since the 1980s and has recently increased its overall investment significantly.

The Government has already made £50m available for the development of Capital Facilities Projects within the UK. The latest estimate is that, once all of the Capital Facilities Projects investments have been completed, businesses will have access and leverage to equipment and facilities worth in the region of £700m.

Collaborative research and development Grants are also being made available that will create new and exciting opportunities for at least 425 UK-based organisations known to be operating in this area.

All of this activity has been built upon the UK’s strong academic base across the many disciplines that constitute nanotechnology and I am pleased that Mark Welland of Cambridge University and the Royal Society is talking about developments in this field. There are more than 90 significant research centres or groups actively engaged within 48 different academic institutions across the UK, including the IRCs based around Oxford and Cambridge.

It is clear from this rising tide of activity across the world that we need to coordinate and cooperate our activities more effectively, particularly in areas of common interest. Within the UK we established The Micro and Nanotechnology Network at the beginning of 2004. This network comprises UK industry, institutions and other organisations engaged in micro and nanotechnologies activity.

As well as supporting the development of nanotechnologies at home, the UK Government also wants to ensure that swift progress is made towards building a global consensus on the governance, standardisation and regulation of nanotechnologies given recent public concerns.

To support this, I recently commissioned the Royal Society and Royal Academy of Engineering to examine the opportunities and uncertainties within nanosciences and nanotechnologies. The UK Government response to this report recommends that measurement and standards development should be a priority alongside regulatory considerations.

Soon after the publication of the Government response, the UK established the research coordination group to discuss the issues raised by nanotechnology. This group includes government departments and associated agencies and laboratories. The Health and Safety Laboratory (HSL) and the National Physical Laboratory (NPL), amongst others, are looking at the regulatory and metrological requirements respectively. Key to this is the development of test methods, procedures, guidelines, codes of practice and reference materials to support both the responsible use of, and the stimulation of, innovative nanotechnologies.

Uncertainties in relation to nanoparticulate technology were given prominence in the Royal Society and Royal Academy of Engineering report and it was concluded that more coordinated research is needed before legislative and legal frameworks are established. It is clear that these are needed at European and International level to allay the wider public concerns over this technology.

Some of this vital international work is already underway. There have been joint symposia in Minneapolis (US) and Buxton (UK) on nanotechnology and occupational health. Within Europe, the ‘Nanosafe’ Integrated Project has examined this area and also a recent call within the 6th Framework Programme has invited proposals for the mapping of standards requirements across Europe.

Within the UK several meetings have been held on the standards and regulatory requirements for nanotechnologies. These will be underpinned by the national measurement system collaborative projects, including the Measurements for Emerging Technologies (MET) programme which has £2.5m being committed by Government and Industry for nanoparticulate work.

All of this will require international cooperation at many levels to ensure robust validation and agreement on normative standards and that work is spread efficiently to ensure effective use of scientific resources.

Standards work has a range of purposes and I would like this morning to emphasise the importance of international standards and regulations in the uptake of new technologies. I believe this work is crucial to the creation of new global markets and economic growth. Nanotechnologies are one of the fastest growing new technologies and will require a sustained effort and commitment in standards-making and metrology over several years to realise its potential.

Underlining this commitment, the UK has already contributed to International standards developments in the field. The first project to be completed is the Publicly Available Specification (PAS) for nanoparticulate vocabulary recently published by the British Standards Institution (BSI). This will support the development of a common language framework for academics, industry, regulators and governments to use. It was developed with International cooperation and has been disseminated widely to date.

We believe in the importance of international collaboration in this field and so I am pleased that BSI has been able to support this meeting over the next three days. I am delighted also that the UK has supported the work of the Chairman for ISO TC 229 to take this work forward.

I hope I have made clear today my Government’s commitment to international collaboration and the development of a set of robust standards for nanotechnology in the future. I think we can also be very pleased by the close international collaboration taking place in this field. I believe this ISO committee, and the work flowing from it, will be critical to the widespread application of this key technology.

I would therefore like to welcome all the international delegates to London and wish you every success in your important work.