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100 billion euro investment in Europe’s nanoelectronics sector?

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The Nov. 28, 2012 news item on Nanowerk about a proposed 100B euro investment in nanoelectronics is a little puzzling (Note: I have removed some links),

The AENEAS and CATRENE organisations announced today the publication of a new positioning document ‘Innovation for the future of Europe: Nanoelectronics beyond 2020’ (pdf).

Highlighting the need for Europe to substantially increase its research and innovation efforts in nanoelectronics in order to maintain its worldwide competitiveness, the document outlines a proposal by companies and institutes within Europe’s nanoelectronics ecosystem to invest 100 billion € up to the year 2020 on an ambitious research and innovation programme, planned and implemented in close cooperation with the European Union and the Member States.

I’m not entirely clear about who or which agencies are making this 100 billion € investment. In other words, whose money? The answer is not revealed in subsequent paragraphs of the news item nor is it in the positioning document.

We are offered this instead (from the news item),

Urgent strategy actions recommended in the positioning paper to secure the future of Europe’s nanoelectronics ecosystem include extension of the European Union’s dedicated budgets for Key Enabling Technologies to reflect their common dependence on nanoelectronics; simplified notification and enlarged eligibility for public funding in nanoelectronics, and greater focus on European Union funding for regional initiatives to support the proposed programme.

“Despite today’s climate of austerity, investing in technologies that will sustain Europe throughout the 21st century and solve important societal challenges such as energy efficiency, security and the aging population, makes economic sense,” explained Mr Villa [Enrico Villa, Chairman of CATRENE]. “We firmly believe that with the right investment and Europe-wide programme coordination, the European nanoelectronics ecosystem can increase Europe’s worldwide revenues by over 200 billion € per year and create an additional 250,000 direct and induced jobs in Europe.”

That seems like a plea for public funding than an attempt at public discussion.

Here’s more about AENEAS from its home page,

AENEAS is a non-profit industrial association established under French law, continuing the activities of the former ENIAC Platform and representing the Nanoelectronics R&D partners in the ENIAC Joint Undertaking.

It allows its members to participate in the Joint Technology Initiatives and provides the European Technology Platform with a legal backbone.

AENEAS is open to all European key players in Nanoelectronics, such as large industry, Small and Medium Enterprises, research institutes, academia, and associations.

Here’s more about CATRENE from its home page,

The recent EUREKA programme CATRENE (Cluster for Application and Technology Research in Europe on NanoElectronics) will effect Technological Leadership for a competitive European ICT industry. It is the ambition of Europe and the European companies to deliver nano-/microelectronics solutions that respond to the needs of society at large, improving the economic prosperity of Europe and reinforcing the ability of its industry to be at the forefront of the global competition.

CATRENE builds on the successful previous EUREKA programmes JESSI, MEDEA, and MEDEA+ in fostering the continued development of a dynamic European ecosystem with the critical mass necessary to compete at a global level in high technology industries.

CATRENE is a four-year programme, started 01 January 2008, and has been extended by another four years. This is in line with the changing landscape of the semiconductor industry as well as the present view on technology evolution and the time span over which most of the major applications will develop. Resources required will be annually around 2,500 person-years, equalling about € 4 billion for the extended programme.

Medicine, nanoelectronics, social implications, and figuring it all out

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Given today’s (Aug. 27, 2012) earlier posting about nanoelectronics and tissue engineering, I though it was finally time to feature Michael Berger’s Aug. 16, 2012 Nanowerk Spotlight essay, The future of nanotechnology electronics in medicine, which discusses the integration of electronics into the human body.

First, Berger offers a summary of some of the latest research (Note: I have removed  links),

In previous Nanowerk Spotlights we have already covered numerous research advances in this area: The development of a nanobioelectronic system that triggers enzyme activity and, in a similar vein, the electrically triggered drug release from smart nanomembranes; an artificial retina for color vision; nanomaterial-based breathalyzers as diagnostic tools; nanogenerators to power self-sustained biosystems and implants; future bio-nanotechnology might even use computer chips inside living cells.

A lot of nanotechnology work is going on in the area of brain research. For instance the use of a carbon nanotube rope to electrically stimlate neural stem cells; nanotechnology to repair the brain and other advances in fabricating nanomaterial-neural interfaces for signal generation.

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International cooperation in this field has also picked up. Just recently, scientists have formed a global alliance for nanobioelectronics to rapidly find solutions for neurological disorders; the EuroNanoBio project is a Support Action funded under the 7th Framework Programme of the European Union; and ENIAC, the European Technology Platform on nanoelectronics, has decided to make the development of medical applications one of its main objectives.

Berger cites a recent article in the American Chemical Society’s (ACS) Nano (journal) by scientists in today’s earlier posting about tissue scaffolding and 3-D electrnonics,

In a new perspective article in the July 31, 2012, online edition of ACS Nano (“The Smartest Materials: The Future of Nanoelectronics in Medicine” [behind a paywall]), Tzahi Cohen-Karni (a researcher in Kohane’s lab), Robert Langer, and Daniel S. Kohane provide an overview of nanoelectronics’ potential in the biomedical sciences.

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They write that, as with many other areas of scientific endeavor in recent decades, continued progress will require the convergence of multiple disciplines, including chemistry, biology, electrical engineering, computer science, optics, material science, drug delivery, and numerous medical disciplines. ”

Advances in this research could lead to extremely sophisticated smart materials with multifunctional capabilities that are built in – literally hard-wired. The impact of this research could cover the spectrum of biomedical possibilities from diagnostic studies to the creation of cyborgs.”

Berger finishes with this thought,

Ultimately, and here we are getting almost into science fiction territory, nanostructures could not only incorporate sensing and stimulating capabilities but also potentially introduce computational capabilities and energy-generating elements. “In this way, one could fabricate a truly independent system that senses and analyzes signals, initiates interventions, and is self-sustained. Future developments in this direction could, for example, lead to a synthetic nanoelectronic autonomic nervous system.”

This Nanowerk Spotlight essay provides a good overview of nanoelectronics  research in medicine and lots of  links to previous related essays and other related materials.

I am intrigued that there is no mention of the social implications for this research and I find social science or humanities research on social social implications of emerging technology rarely discusses the technical aspects revealing what seems to be an insurmountable gulf. I suppose that’s why we need writers, artists, musicians, dancers, pop culture, and the like to create experiences, installations, and narratives that help us examine the technologies and their social implications, up close.