Nanotechnology is considered by many to be one of the key technologies of this century, with an expected market volume of EUR 1 trillion in 2015. In 2004, about EUR 8 billion was invested in nanotechnology research and development worldwide. The European Commission, realising the future importance of this new field, funds nanotechnology projects with roughly EUR 500 million a year, an amount that is likely to double over the next decade or two, according to an EC source.
The emergence of nanotechnology (“nano” is derived from the Greek word for dwarf) has been followed closely by the European Patent Office (EPO).
“The term nanotechnology covers entities with a controlled geometrical size of at least one functional component below 100 nanometres in one or more dimensions susceptible of making physical, chemical or biological effects available which are intrinsic to that size. It covers equipment and methods for controlled analysis, manipulation, processing, fabrication or measurement with a precision below 100 nanometres.” (EPO definition)
Although the number of nanotechnology patent applications filed with the EPO is still relatively small – in the lower single-digit percentages of all European patent applications – filing figures have been slowly rising, and many experts are now predicting that nanotechnology will become the next big growth field after biotechnology.
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Patents and nanotechnology in Europe
As with any new technology, there is some anxiety over how the patenting process will adapt. Nanotechnology is a special case because it can occur in almost any area of science and engineering: it is just as relevant to biotechnologists and physicists as it is to electrical and mechanical engineers or materials scientists.
To ensure that it was well-prepared for the impact of nanotechnology, in 2003 the EPO set up a Nanotechnology Working Group. The working group has called on internal and external expertise to develop a strategy for facing the patent challenges ahead.
| Code | Nanotechnology field |
|---|---|
| Y01N2 | Nanobiotechnology |
| Y01N4 | Nanotechnology for information processing, storage and transmission |
| Y01N6 | Nanotechnology for materials and surface science |
| Y01N8 | Nanotechnology for interacting, sensing or actuating |
| Y01N10 | Nano optics |
| Y01N12 | Nanomagnetics |
According to the latest in-house research, about 86 000 patent documents from around the world, as well as about 20 000 non-patent literature files, have been tagged as nanotechnology in one or more of the Y01N main groups. Since 1999, most nanotechnology patents have been published in the Y01N4 group, followed by Y01N6 and Y01N12.
Treating patent applications for nanotechnology
Experts have observed that there is a growing trend to file for patents earlier, and file more of them. That could potentially hamper innovation by acting as a disincentive for other institutions to embark on similar research. Although this is a general trend in patenting, nanotechnology-related inventions could be especially affected since it is a young and growing field.
To avoid an inflation of low-quality patent applications that could clog up the EPO and create a backlog, the EPO has introduced a quality policy to bring certainty to the market, for both the applicant and the public. The EPO’s approach is one of “quality rather than quantity.”
The Y01N tags are one element in this approach, since they enable EPO examiners to monitor emerging nanotechnology inventions and to perform better patentability searches. The EPO has also put measures in place to ensure that nanotechnology applications are treated by examiners with the right experience in the specific field.
Phantatomix / Science Photo Library
Molecular bearing
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