As foreseen, the conference focused on focused on nano and materials technologies and delved into topics like smart specialisation and PPPs, the public acceptance of nanotechnologies, bringing together top scholars and entrepreneurs, assessing the impacts of nanotech on daily lives and the progress of research, the integration of nanotechnologies in the industrial value chain, supporting European competitiveness through nano knowledge and expertise, commercialising nano research results, and so forth. The event reviewed the 2017 status of European nanotechnology, including the latest progress in nanoscience, nanotechnology, innovation and business and sought feedback on the first activities launched under H2020 and provide feedback for the coming calls.
ENF 2017 was indeed integrative and stimulated various interactions between technological disciplines, research and industry, and between regional, national and transnational bodies. At the same time the event served as a catalyst for action to encourage spin-off technology to find an industrial partner through the ample networking sessions, and gave exposure to European, world class nanotechnology research that should find its rightful place in industry.
For such reasons it was imperative that the conference audiences would be balanced with representatives from the right sectors: event attendees were all stakeholders involved in activities related to nano and materials technologies, including representatives of industry and SMEs, research centres and universities, representatives of the financial sector and investors, as well as policymakers at regional, member state and transnational levels.
Incremental innovations, business news and the latest nanotechnology related research results were presented and discussed, also in the perspectives of post-Horizon2020 scenarios. The event proved to be the most excellent way to promote and popularise the importance of nanotechnologies and this was even made possible through the extensive national outreach and promotional activities that preceded the conference.
During the conference proceedings, the delegates and expert speakers discussed various success stories and encouraged prospective project partners to aim for breakthrough technological innovation and impact significantly on both industry and society. Most importantly, there were various occasions during the three-day programme where opportunities to substantially improve industrial competitiveness and growth by applying nano and advanced materials horizontally were presented. All this discussion was supported by the accompanying programme that was taking place simultaneously with the conference, aiming to help SMEs find international research and business partners, tap EU funding through inter-regional consortia, identify talented researchers and assign such talent to industry.
