Research in nanoscience has gained momentum, due to the intellectual attraction and the potential societal impact and with the forecasted global market impact across several sectors it lends nanotechnology to be a dominant and enabling technology in the 21st century. Nanotechnology is not an industry or a sector rather a set of tools and processes for manipulating matter that can be applied to virtually any manufactured good.

Nanotechnology as an emerging and disruptive force has already faced the initial challenges of public acceptance globally. Notable commentators such as HRH Prince of Wales famously commented on a potential of “Green Goo” while numerous academics examine the toxicology of the technology to guard against the next “asbestos” (Figure 2). Despite this often high-profile cautiousness, the technology has already found its way into the mainstream through products such as antimicrobial refrigerators.

Figure 2: Launch of Prince of Wales Innovation Scholars Program: HRH the Prince of Wales (right), Professor Andrew R. Barron the first Prince of Wales Visiting Innovator (center) and Professor Marc Clement Vice Chancellor of the University of Wales (far right).

The commercial interest in nanotechnology can be tracked back over significant period. For example, the first trademarks incorporating “nano” was registered in 1965 though this has grown rapidly over recent years. (Lux Research, 2006) Nanotechnology is a disruptive technology crossing many industrial sectors and at the middle of the last decade had already become incorporated in over $50 billion worth of products sold worldwide. The growth of scale has been matched by the growth of scope, with products ranging from nano-formulated drugs through to high performance nanophosphate batteries. A key breakthrough was the discovery of fullerene by Harry Kroto (University of Sussex, United Kingdom), Bob Curl and Richard Smalley (Rice University, Texas), which has become a major enabler in numerous technologies for sectors across the board. The discovery of fullerene helped put the then-emerging field of nanotechnology, which involves making products from designer molecules, into the limelight. Besides the 1996 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Smalley was awarded the Irving Langmuir Prize, the Franklin Medal, and the Ernest O. Lawrence Memorial Award (Kanellos 2005).

Due to the potential impacts of nanotechnology, there has been, and is, a strong global interest across governments, business, venture capitalists, and academic researchers. From the period of 1997 to 2005, approximately $18 billion were invested globally in nanotechnology by national and local governments (Cientifica 2006). Governments in the United State, Japan, and Western Europe are among top global nano technology spenders, with global collective governmental spending annually some ~$4.6 billion. This represents just under 50% of total expenditure with the remainder coming from major corporations including a minor proportion from venture capitalists (Lux Research, 2008). However, despite the initial lead of the United States in nanotechnology investment it is now been overtaken by Europe for government expenditure and by Asia for corporate investment (Nano Report, 2006).

The global nanotechnology market has been examined in great detail by a range of academic and commercial organisations. A particularly detailed and comprehensive ongoing study by Lux Research Corporation (2004, 2006, and 2008) provides a useful breakdown of existing activity together with projections of future trends. This work presents growth in nanotechnology manufacturing as a sector towards a global value of some $2.6 trillion dollars by 2014. This is broadly equivalent to the current size of the ICT sector and ten times larger than Biotechnology.

Countries across the world, including China, Japan, and several European countries, have made nanotechnology leadership and a national priority, working to catch up with the lead established by the United Sates in the field. Even developing countries in areas like Africa, South America, and Malaysia have established government-funded nanotechnology programs and research centres (Cientifica 2006).

Regionally, the U.S. is forecast to remain the largest nanomaterials market due to its large, technologically advanced economy and is top 4 in ranked positions in most major nanomaterials areas, including electronics, consumer goods, pharmaceuticals, and construction materials. (Europe is currently competitive with 31% on the materials market, however there is a clear gap in government spending). The report indicates that Japan is the leading nanomaterials investor in R&D on a per capita basis (Freedonia Group, 2003).

Previous sections have outlined the breadth and growth potential of market sectors in nanotechnology. The transformational nature of endeavour in the field can support establishment of clusters spanning numerous sectors. An example of this is the development of a nanotechnology cluster in the State of Texas. Table 1 highlights leading firms within the cluster from a range of sectors.

It is projected that by 2014 Healthcare and life sciences applications will finally become established as nano-enabled pharmaceuticals and medical devices emerge from lengthy human trials (Lux Research 2004). Within the sector pharmaceuticals alone will represent an annual global market worth ~ $180 billion (Hobson 2009).

Available research shows that using 2003 figures the biomedical / life science industry was the largest sector involved in the R&D, manufacture, sale and use of nanotechnology. In 2003, four of the five top assignees for nanotechnology patents in 2003 were electronics companies, although the field of chemistry (molecular biology and microbiology) had the greatest number of nanotechnology patents both in 2003 and in previous years (Freedonia Group, 2003).

Considering Life Science as the “Leading” sector for nanotechnology applications, it could be asked why the apparent throughput of products remains low. It is worth stressing that due to the extensive development and rigorous regulatory pathways involved, this creates a particularly long time to market for innovations in the sector. In addition this is compounded by the need for framework to catch up with and effectively accommodate nanotechnology advances. It was highlighted by the US FDA in 2008 and again in 2009 that there was a lack of qualified people within the agency to be able to properly facilitate nano through approvals (ANH 2008, 2009)

Within the combined sectors of Bio and Life Science exist numerous segments and markets which represent significant opportunities themselves. For example, the Medical Devices market is growing at ~9% each year presenting opportunities for nanotechnology applications. Meanwhile, other segments such as in-vitro diagnostics and medical imaging represent markets of ~$18 billion and ~$14 billion respectively (EPT 2005). It was highlighted by the Chairman of the Wellcome Trust, Sir William ('Bill') Castell in 2010 that “it is the low hanging fruit of diagnostics and imaging that will bring nano into forefront of healthcare” (Castell 2010). Within each of these sectors nanotechnology has the potential to be immensely disruptive. For example, within the field of drug delivery systems, a market worth ~$43 billion, there is significant potential for technologies such as Au (gold) particles (Cientifica 2008) and micro-needles (www.belasnet.be 2008), Figure 5 and Figure 6, respectively.

Figure 5: Image of gold nanoparticles (Source: Cientifica 2008).

Figure 6: SEM image of micro-needles (Source: www.belasnet.be).

In 2002 University of Wales, Swansea led a partnership involving UW Aberystwyth, UW College of Medicine and Cardiff University to create an infrastructure for development of cutting edge nanotechnology research. The Centre, which remains in operation, is multi-faceted, focusing on “boundary projects” operating in multidisciplinary fields. Core components of the initiative include:

The initiative has established itself as a leading research centre the success of which was recently reflected in the excellent outcome of the School of Engineering in the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise (RAE).

One of the prime foci of the Centre for NanoHealth (CNH) is the field of “Nanomedicine”. The reasons for specific interest in the field include the facts that:

In the near future, the second and the third points represent the biggest challenge for developing nano-medical tools and devices, because due to the novelty of the field no infrastructures of European scale have evolved yet, which create the necessary close proximity between experts and facilities of different areas. This is essential for innovations in this field, and to create the condition of the fast translation of research results to the clinic for patients.

To overcome this problem a distributed infrastructure of specialised European poles of excellence of complementary expertise is a necessary first step. Each centre or node should already have: excellence in one area of nano-technology (surfaces, particles, analytics, integrated systems, etc.), a biological and/or medical research centre and hospital, and (most importantly) companies, which have access to and knowledge of the relevant markets. The missing expertise should be quickly and very easily accessible within this network of distributed infrastructures and expert pools:

In August of 2002 the University of Wales Swansea (Swansea University) made a bold step in development of collaboration within Wales for Nanotechnology. Combining University of Wales Swansea (UWS), University of Wales Aberystwyth (UWA), University of Wales College of Medicine (UWCM) and Cardiff University (CU) with the objective to create the infrastructure for the development of a cutting-edge nanotechnology research centre at UWS. The centre brought together internationally-leading scientists, and achieved added value by creating new opportunities for research in emerging area of acknowledged importance. By definition, the centre is multi-faceted, focussing effort into new ‘boundary’ projects where the synergy of three key groups of staff from the School of Engineering (Chemical and Biological Process Engineering, and Electronic Engineering) and the Department of Physics, form the broad knowledge base; these groups, totalling over 50 researchers. Furthermore, inclusion of complementary research groups that were established in the newly created Clinical School, Biological Sciences, and the EPSRC Mass Spectrometry Unit based in the then Chemistry Department and the Welsh Centre for Printing and Coating have also be prioritised. The realisation of this centre was achieved through:

Collaboration, including joint project work, was undertaken with research teams from the UWCM, CU and the Physics Department at UWA built on successful collaborations that were already underway. They anticipated that the Centre’s scanning microscopy-and-spectroscopy and nano-fabrication laboratories would be of particular interest to groups working in the fields of dermal wound healing and biomaterials (UWCM), organic thin films (UWA), nano-modelling and semiconductor and bio-chip technologies (UC). Furthermore, smaller groups who do not have critical mass or developing groups with potential in the field of nanotechnology were encouraged to participate.

The lead organization was the University of Wales Swansea a research-led institution. Of particular relevance to the proposal were its areas of strength and international recognition in Engineering and the Physical Sciences, which housed the nanotechnology expertise. The University recognised the need to support research selectively through the promotion and development of Centres with a critical mass of personnel and resources and an international profile. The University physically reorganized its Departments on campus to promote this strategy. The proposal was well-suited to take advantage of these developments. The proposed Centre for Nanotechnology resonated with the establishment of the Swansea Clinical School, in which there were recent staff appointments at senior levels in cognate biomedical areas. The University participated in forming all-Wales Networks of Excellence and the Centre for Nanotechnology forming a pivotal role acting as one of those networks. The development of a Multidisciplinary Centre of Nanotechnology on the UWS campus feeds into this strand of activities. Along with opportunities for interactions with local industry, through the established Technium project for knowledge exploitation, consistent with UWS’ stated goals.

Links of the proposed programme with external schemes and initiatives are exemplified by the work of the two key strands, the Centre for Complex Fluids Processing (Chemical and Biological Process Engineering) and the Semiconductor Interface Group (Electronic Engineering). The former has been endorsed and funded by an EPSRC Platform Grant; an award given only to world leading groups to provide continuity for longer term research and international networking. The latter has been successful in attracting EPSRC and industrial funds to support nanotechnology projects within the electronics and sensing sector; research carried out by this group and the Power Electronics Centre (Electronic Engineering) was seen to be instrumental in attracting International Rectifiers and PureWafer, SMEs to set-up in Swansea. Both strands of research are also in receipt of a Higher Education Funding Council of Wales (HEFCW) funding, which has been awarded on the basis of technical excellence and a proven track record of successful collaboration with industry.

The rapidly developing area of nano-technology research area at the time was certain to be a growth area within Wales. At the time Cardiff University planned to create a multidisciplinary Research Institute for Micro and Nano-science (IMNOS) and it was seen that it would be vital for Swansea and the Cardiff centres to work closely together and co-ordinate their activities, based on their previous solid record of collaboration.

The MNC set up four key panels to govern over specific areas for the Centre:

The aim of the recently funded (2009) Centre for NanoHealth (CNH) aim is to deliver the next generation of Healthcare via the application of Nanotechnology as described above. CNH will achieve this through research & development, demonstration and deployment, and Skills innovation system. In doing so, the goal of CNH is to underpin the development of skills and enterprise people required for Wales to realise its potential in an emerging nanotechnologysector.

CNH has identified that future healthcare lies in new novel technologies that permit early disease intervention, supported by new diagnostics and treatments in non-hospital environments e.g., the home, community clinic or local General Practitioners (GP) surgery. With the key being rapid intervention at the earliest possible instance for disease detection and treatment through the use of therapeutic devices, sensors, diagnostics and other applications.

The £20 million CNH project will firmly establish the region as a world leading interdisciplinary centre offering a Research and Development, Demonstration and Deployment, and Skills innovation system for NanoHealth, where basic research is fed into the Centre from the MNC and ILS in Swansea (see Figure 7).

Figure 7: Innovation system adapted from: The Research and Development, Demonstration and Deployment and Skills Innovation System (DTI 2007).

CNH brings together, within a single physical and state of the art facility, Clinicians from the local Trust Hospital, Life Scientist Researchers from Swansea University’s School of Medicine and Engineers/Physical Researchers from Swansea’s School of Engineering to work closely with business to deliver innovations in healthcare. The CNH goal is to be a multidisciplinary environment integrating specialist facilities for nano-fabrication, nano-characterisation, and biomedical development, coupled with the added benefit of business incubation space, which is adjacent to a clinical research unit and hospital. The Centre aspires to support the ambitions of the Science Policy by delivering personalised medicine solutions and enhanced diagnostics capabilities, for treatment in the home and community outlets, not only support the economic development agenda but also transform the way in which healthcare is delivered.

The Centre for NanoHealth (Figure 8) is funded through Convergence funding and is tasked with not only research but also to assist Welsh SMEs to work on the development of new healthcare technologies from initial concept to the point where they can be deployed commercially. Within Wales the private sector, and in particular Welsh SMEs, are not likely to be able to invest adequately in the initial R&D area due to the lack of funds, preventing them from capitalising on any returns relative to the costs and risks involved. The role of the CNH is to address this failure by providing the region with the required infrastructure to facilitate a level of investment from the private sector to develop new technologies in the area of NanoHealth; ultimately returning wider economic, health and environmental benefits to the Southwest Wales region.

Figure 8: Institute of Life Science II and Centre for NanoHealth, Swansea University.

CNH will provide a world-class infrastructure for the commercialisation of science based around one of the three key themes targeted by the Science Policy: Health. It will actively attract inward-investing R&D activity and create a pipeline of opportunities, which it can incubate and develop. Adding to developing a regional ‘critical mass’ of activity, supporting an emerging life science cluster and linking directly to healthcare provision in Wales.