The The Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology database – developed by Industry Canada’s Manufacturing Industries Branch – provides the nanotechnology industry with convenient access to nanotechnology tools and information.

Nanotechnology is a future technology that is expected to revolutionize product production, strength, and behaviour. It has the manufacturing potential to create lighter, stronger, less expensive and more precise products. This technology operates on a scale so small that the forces of gravity as felt by humans no longer apply. Instead, the laws of quantum mechanics govern, and at the nanoscale level, objects that are no more than a few atoms wide can behave in previously unpredicted ways.

Nanotechnology has yet to produce but a handful of innovative applications; however, its potential is vast. At one-sixth the weight of steel but 100 times it’s strength, some nanomaterials created in the laboratory have amazing properties. Nanotechnology is being explored for its potential in creating lighter, yet stronger materials. In medicine, carbon nanotubes have potential applications in treatments for diseases like cancer and AIDS. Despite the many obstacles that must still be overcome before it can be widely applied, nanotechnology is expected to contribute to a promising future.