The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) has announced the formation of a working group to look at nomenclature and terminology. The fact that NanoApex file this as law shows what a slippery beast a nanotech taxonomy can be.
We rather likes the Royal Society Studys take on definitions, being one of the few bodies to accurately and correctly distinguish between nanoscience and nanotechnology. While the distinction seems obvious, science versus technology, it is surprising how many people fail to make the distinction leaving venture capitalists fuming about wasting time on science projects. The distiction is also clearly lost on Nathan Tinker of the NanoBusiness Alliance who opines that “There is a lot of interesting stuff going on, but a lot of it will not turn into anything.”
Repeat after us:
Nanoscience is the study of phenomena and manipulation of materials at atomic, molecular and macromolecular scales, where properties differ significantly from those at a larger scale.
Nanotechnologies are the design, characterisation, production and application of structures, devices and systems by controlling shape and size at nanometer scale.
Got that?