A seminar is being held today at the University to discuss the scientific and business applications of nanotechnology. The seminar will give companies a glimpse into the future by showcasing some of the nanotechnology applications in development at the University.

The event is the first in the new Horizon seminar series. Organised by the Corporate Liaison Office and supported by Cambridge-MIT Institute, the series is designed to provide businesses with an insight into the cutting edge of science and technology research at the University and give researchers an opportunity to explore commercial applications with potential business partners.

Working at the atomic level enables scientists to control and change the physical properties of materials to create new structures, such as carbon nanotubes, by engineering matter with nanometre precision. The nanometre has become a unifying length-scale to which scientists from many disciplines, including physics, chemistry, biology and engineering, are converging.

"Nanotechnology is one area of science that is truly interdisciplinary," said Professor Mark Welland, Director of the Cambridge University Interdisciplinary Research Centre for Nanotechnology.

"We believe that by working with companies we can develop new applications which are likely to lead to significant advances in manufacturing. For example, computers will shrink further, medical diagnosis will become virtually instantaneous and non-invasive, and energy waste could be dramatically reduced through the introduction of new materials throughout the technology sector."

The National Science Foundation in the USA predicts that the total market for nanotechnology products and services will reach US $1,000 billion by 2015. Nanotechnology products are already on the market. For example, a new generation of sun-blockers are already available which contain particles of metal oxides, each manufactured on a scale of a few billionths of a metre. Soon, the data storage industry could be transformed by new products, based on magnetic nanomaterials, which are capable of storing a far greater density of information than today's CD-ROM or computer hard disk drive.

Today's seminar will include discussions on research, the use of nanotechnology in the UK, and a tour of the nanoscale science lab.

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