NEW DELHI, APRIL 14: With nanotechnology gaining importance all over the world, the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) has also decided to form a national committee for formulation of standards in the area. The BIS has already invited offers from organisations, working in this field, to nominate one principal and one alternate member to contribute their expertise and experience in the standards framing mechanism.

Standardisation of nanotechnologies will include the understanding and control of matter and processes at the nanoscale, officials said. The scale is typically, but not exclusively, below 100 nanometres in one or more dimensions where the onset of size-dependent phenomena usually enables novel applications.

It will also utilise the properties of nanoscale materials that differ from the properties of individual atoms, molecules and bulk matter to create improved materials, devices and systems that exploit these new properties.

The UK, the US and Japan have already set up national nanotechnology committees. Cientifica, a nanotech research and advisory firm, estimates that governments and companies will ramp up their annual investments in nanotechnology to over $4 billion a year by 2010.

( www.financialexpress.com)