The increasing application of nanotechnologies in enhanced industrial processes and new or improved products poses both a opportunities and challenges to the area of measurement and instrumentation:

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  • Traditional instruments  and measurement techniques are significantly enhanced by nanotechnology-based innovation leading to enhanced selectivity, sensitivity and speed, as well is improved  sample-handling, -storage and –parallel analysis processes.
  • Entirely new state-of-the-art instruments are being developed, in order to allow characterisation at the nanoscale.

Both the visualisation, detailed chemical and physical analysis and the online detection of nano-scale materials are pushing the envelope of nanotechnology as a key-enabling-technology to provide solutions for the analytical challenges it creates.

During the current debate on the possibility to implement the proposed definitions of ‘nanomaterial’, experts in instrumentation and measurement play a pivotal role by frequently providing insight into the  technical feasibility of the demanded characterisation and detection of nanomaterials at a higher accuracy, specificity and reliability than ever realised for other materials and chemical substances, while also allowing an assessment of the economic viability of such state-of-the-art instruments being available in sufficient quantity to form the essential requirement of an entirely new regulation.

NIA Support in Machinery & Metrology

NIA Members benefit from a wide range of activities and projects that provide support in nanotechnology Machinery and Metrology.

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News & Alerts

Safe by Design workshop slides published

NIA was part of a multi-project consortium that delivered the 2 day workshop "Nanomaterials: Industrial workshop on Safe by Design" in Bilbao on April 24-25, managed by the project Nanogentools.

Projects dedicated to building the concept and tools behind Safe by Design came together, including:

JRC report 'NanoREG framework for the safety assessment of nanomaterials' published

NIA welcomes publication of the JRC Science for Policy Report 'NANoREG framework for the safety assessment of nanomaterials'.
The comprehensive report was co-authored by NIA's David Carlander from the collaborative work within the NANoREG project "A common European approach to the regulatory testing of nanomaterials", funded by the European Union's 7th Framework Programme.