The NANO Initiative is geared to all actors from university and non-university research, universities of applied sciences, secondary technical schools and companies based in Austria. Individual projects and events to be carried out as part of the programme line "Networks and Confidence Building” can also be submitted individually. 

The NANO Initiative is funded by the BMVIT, strategically supported by several ministries, provinces and funding institutions. Management and coordination are provided by the FFG.  

The Austrian NANO Initiative

The Austrian NANO Initiative is a multi-annual funding programme for Nanoscale Sciences and Nanotechnologies (NANO for short) in Austria. It coordinates NANO measures on the national and regional levels and is supported by several ministries, federal provinces and funding institutions, under the overall control of the BMVIT Federal Ministry for Transport, Innovation and Technology. The orientation and the structure of the Austrian NANO Initiative have been developed jointly with scientists, entrepreneurs and intermediaries.

Objectives 

The Austrian NANO Initiative has the following objectives

• Broadening the cooperation basis between science and industry
• Strengthening research competence in fields of application relevant to Austrian enterprises
• Accelerating technology transfer and increasing the economic utilisation of nanotechnology
• Improving access to know-how and to cooperation partners abroad
• Decreasing insecurities and information deficits with regard to health risks and environmental risks
• Establishing nanotechnology in the context of public perception of Austria as a research location, of science communication and of promoting young researchers

Target Groups 

The NANO Initiative addresses all NANO players from university and non-university research, as well as enterprises located in Austria. International partners are welcome to participate in all programme action lines. 

NANO is regarded as a set of promising future technologies with an enormous development and application potential in many sectors of industry and many areas of life. It is therefore a strategically important focus for Austrian research and industry. 

Action lines 

The Austrian NANO Initiative has recently 2 programme action lines:

• National Cooperative RTD Projects Research and Technology Development in Project Clusters (RPC)
• Transnational Cooperative RTD Projects