The UK has started a quality award scheme for businesses in the
micro and nanotechnology industries to ensure that companies adhere
to basic standards. The scheme will also protect the public image
of the field, which has previously attracted negative coverage over
alleged safety issues.
“We really want to make sure that the companies taking part in
any aspect of nanotech maintain the image and the standards,” said
Dave Sharp, a science and technology consultant for UK Trade and
Investment, the Government agency promoting the UK’s nanotechnology
efforts.
“We have a strong international position and we don’t want that
undermined by any unprofessional behaviour. Any carelessness in a
lab in a university, for example, could be very dangerous,” said
Sharp.
The UK, which was recently handed the chairmanship of the ISO
committee on nanotechnology standards, is two years into a
six-year, £90m effort to develop a micro and nanotechnology
manufacturing industry. The scheme was a response to a 2002 report
by Sir John Taylor into the country’s nanotechnology capabilities,
which found that while significant activity was going on, it needed
to be better coordinated.
“We’ve got a really well joined-up nanotech environment in the
UK, so much so that we’re now the nominated international chairman
of the ISO standards committee,” said Sharp. “The MNT Quality Mark
is basically just common sense best practice, making sure that
companies adopt it and maintain it.”
The initiative borrows heavily from the Institute of Mechanical
Engineers’ award scheme for manufacturing excellence. It has been
launched in part as a response to a report last year from the Royal
Society and Royal Academy of Engineering on the state of MNT and
how it should be regulated.
So far five companies have achieved the standard for the Quality
Mark. The awards will be presented at the end of the month.
mnt.globalwatchonline.com