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A
major foresight project on materials technology has
been launched to put Norway's need for expertise in
nano- and materials technology on the agenda.
Norway
hasn't had a general R&D strategy for materials
technology or nanotechnology since the 1980's and
is far behind the USA and the rest of Europe. In 1999,
Bill Clinton allocated 500 million US dollars to nano
research through the Nanotech Initiative. The same
year, the Norwegian White Paper on Research was presented
without mentioning nanotechnology or materials technology
with a word. In 2002, however, the Research Council
made nano- and materials technology a priority through
the NANOMAT programme.
-It's high time we take nano- and materials technology
seriously," says Astrid Brenna, project manager
of Avanserte materialer Norge 2020 (Advanced Materials
Technology in Norway towards 2020). We will focus
on Norway's role as an innovative user and producer
of materials, and we will highlight important areas
of nanotechnology. The project is one of the three
foresight programmes recently undertaken by the Research
Council to enhance the expertise in some of the most
important future technologies. The other two programmes
concern information and communication technology and
biotechnology.
-Innovations in materials are very often a prerequisite
for innovations in other areas such as medical technology,
information technology, transportation technology,
space technology, offshore technology, aquaculture
technology, energy technology and environmental and
process technology. Materials technology is very important
to the value creation of Norway in the future,"
Brenna says.
The project also focuses on how Norway's funding of
R&D in materials technology can attain a balance
between the new, highly advanced materials such as
nanotechnology and the more traditional materials
such as light metals, plastic, ferrous alloys, silicon
and wood.
During the project, several future analyses will be
carried out, describing the major challenges in the
field of materials technology towards 2020. These
analyses will form a knowledge base for the Research
Council's strategic work with materials technology
and nanotechnology.
Reference
URL
http://www.forskningsradet.no
For
further information, please contact:
Thomas Evensen
The Research Council of Norway
tev@forskningsradet.no
+47 22 03 75 26
Posted
By:
The Research Council of Norway
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