NANOZOOM: HOW SMALL CAN WE GO?
INDUSTRIAL EXHIBITION AND SCIENTIFIC CONFERENCES
A FIRST IN FRANCE

The Micronora trade fair devoted 400m² of exhibition space exclusively to nanotechnology.

Nanotechnology is the technology of the infinitely small... unfortunately the idea of what is infinitely small varies considerably, depending on whether you are talking to an optician, an electronics engineer, a mechanical engineer or a chemist. For opticians, nanotechnology begins when material includes “subwavelength structures”, namely, for details smaller than 300 nanometres; for electronics and mechanical engineers on the other hand, nanotechnology includes the fine structures of electronic circuits just a few tens of nanometres in diameter. Finally, for chemists, nanotechnology concerns atomic and molecular structure. The scale therefore changes from 1 to more than 1000!
This is one of the basic paradoxes of this new technology, each discipline being convinced they have the right definition.
Another paradox, doubtless linked to this scalar imprecision, is using the idea of nanotechnology as customer bait. A number of laboratories have changed their corporate name to add the magic word “nanotechnology”. Commercial products are following the same logic and there has been an upsurge of products with names starting with nano, giving the impression that we are immersed in a nano-world…
Reality is quite different, and although many laboratories throughout the world are working hard in this new field, there are still very few spin-offs in the economic sector, except in chemistry, which is intrinsically nanometric.
Several attempts have been made to involve industry in this adventure, the limits of which are still ill-defined. For instance, 10 years ago, the nanotechnology club was started, with the intention of bringing researchers and industrialists together. Although the club still runs satisfactorily, experience shows that it is primarily the researchers who organize its various events.
This is why Micronora has decided to take over and get industry more involved.

Nanozoom: How small can we go?

In 2006, Micronora’s programme of events, entitled “Nanozoom, how small can we go?”, set itself the objective of promoting nanotechnology by helping industries, be they start-ups or large companies, as well as laboratories, to communicate their innovations. This included demonstrating the industrialization potential of nanotechnology and the many applications it spawns. Because, although nanotechnology still has to prove its efficiency in many fields, it has already entered the economic field, sometimes discretely, in many production sectors.
In the future, this technology will be a paramount economic factor affecting every aspect of our lives: health, electronics, textiles, aeronautics and more traditional sectors such as mechanical engineering, the automobile industry…
For instance, researchers have found that a nanograin of copper has mechanical, electrical and thermal properties far superior to those of a normal grain of copper. The challenge now is to discover how such properties can best be exploited.
Today nanotechnology is no longer confined to research, it is moving into the world of industry.

The automobile industry is a perfect example; paintwork, corrosion, glazing, tyres and microsystems are increasingly dependent on nanotechnology, through nano-products such as nano-powders or levels of manufacturing precision verging on the nanometre.
This is why, to illustrate these new developments, major principals will take part in Nanozoom: the PSA Peugeot-Citroën Group, ARKEMA (producing 10 tonnes a year of carbon nanotubes at Lacq), SAINT-GOBAIN (dirt-free glazing using nano-layers).
Some thirty exhibitors displayed their expertise: DGTec (nano-powders), SiLMach and PHOTLINE (nano-components), Adixen (engraving machines for producing nano-components), CSM Instruments, SCIENTEC, DIGITAL SURF, SUSS MICROTEC, NOVALASE, ACXYS Technologies, SCHAEFER Techniques, IMPULSION, FMNT Finland, CORELASE, NANOCOMP, GENANO, HORIBA JOBIN YVON, STATICE SANTE, OPTEC Industries, PHOTON & POLYMERS, NANOBIOGENE, LOVALITE, POLYRISE…JEMI France and laboratories.

A cycle of top-level conferences organized by scientists was held in parallel and covered four main themes:
- Nanomaterials and treatments
- Nanocharacterization
- Micro and nanomanufacture
- Nanoassembly

Nanozoom showed what tomorrow's nano-world would provide for humanity, making materials stronger, limiting corrosion and producing increasingly small and reliable components.
By bringing research and industry together, Nanozoom was an excellent tool for technology watch and economic intelligence serving an entire profession.
A first in France in the field of nanotechnology, with the backing of the Franche-Comté DRIRE (regional industry, research and environment agency)!