Nanotechnology innovation process for advanced materials

Abstract

Nanotechnology innovation has peculiar characteristics. This paper reviews the methodology and results, drawn from cases analyzed on two EU projects: EULASUR and EULACERMAT. The cases covers both European and Latin American experiences, particularly from countries from Mercosur. We analyze in particular nanotechnology innovation based on new and advanced materials. The main conclusion of this paper is that innovation in advanced materials, based on nanotechnology, relies crucially on networks of cooperative agents. It starts from the validated assumption that innovation is interactive in nature. Therefore, it is needed to co-create through the participation to obtain feasible results. It appeared clearly that innovation in this field is a complex problem, with the same degree as researching (nanoscience), and that the connections between them were not obvious nor simple.