Companies that produce products using nanotechnologies can now assess at an early stage whether product-related risks of acceptance are likely. As part of the EU funded project ObservatoryNANO, triple innova is refining the self-assessment tool "NanoMeter".

The NanoMeter helps companies to identify product-related risks (social, ethical, economic, environmental) as well as to establish further opportunities in the development phase and to manage these actively. Internally, the self-assessment tool supports companies by enabling:

• application-specific analyses of opportunities and risks
• re-evaluations of existing knowledge through extended perspectives (ethical, legal and societal)
• a selection and assessment of the relevant range of issues
• the identification of critical knowledge gaps
• the sharing of knowledge

In the interaction with external stakeholder groups and societal actors the tool can help to:

• make a product-related assessment of the societal acceptance
  and
• meet the requirements for transparency and responsibility.

Nanotechnology is ranked as one of the central key technologies of our time. As many applications benefit – or will benefit - from the special properties of nanomaterials, the critics become more vocal. While the increased (re)active surface of the nanoparticle makes it useful in a wide range of technological innovations, this characteristic can also cause toxic reactions and possible health hazards.

At the first symposium of the EU project ObservatoryNANO on 10th and 11th March 2009, representatives of the fifteen ObservatoryNANO project partners from ten different countries, together with more than thirty other experts, met in Dusseldorf in order to share intermediate results from the project and to contribute to the current debate in various fields of nanotechnologies and sciences. The strengths and weaknesses of the self-assessment tool NanoMeter were discussed openly during the conference. The tool provides levels of analysis and raises questions during the development and deployment phase of nanoapplications and components, including the consumption and disposal phase. The concept of self-assessment means that the tool users have the freedom to define the depth and breadth of the tool's application.

The aim of the EU funded project "ObservatoryNANO" is to create a "European observatory" for nanotechnologies that provides reliable, complete and responsible expert analyses, which are also scientifically and economically sound. 4 million Euros have been allocated to fund the project for four years, shared amongst fifteen partners in ten European countries. ObservatoryNANO furthermore supports the dialogue with decision makers about opportunities and developments weighed against risks and limitations. You can access further information about the project here or on the projectsite.