NanoDefine Project Summary

Nanotechnology is a key enabling technology. Still, existing uncertainties concerning EHS need to be addressed to explore its full potential of this new technology. One challenge consists in the development of methods that reliably identify, characterize and quantify nanomaterials (NM) both as substance and in various products and matrices.

The European Commission has recently recommended a definition of NM as a reference to determine whether an unknown material can be considered as a 'nanoma terial' (2011/696/EU).

NanoDefine will will explicitly address this question and support the governance challenges associated with the implementation of the nano legislation by:

• addressing the issues on the availability of suitable measuring techniques, reference material, validated methods, acceptable for all stakeholders (authorities, policies, industries),
• an integrated and interdisciplinary approach and a close international cooperation and networking between academia, concerned industries and standardization bodies.