It is likely to lead the world's second industrial evolution. Nanotechnology is now playing a more important role in many industries and there are many nanotechnology-based products being developed and introduced to the market in Thailand and around the world.

This is a new area that can't be ignored by government and business sectors.

Nanotechnology is an umbrella term that covers many areas of research dealing with objects that are measured in nanometres. A nanometre is a billionth of a metre, or a millionth of a millimetre.

Nuttapun Supaka, a technical officer at the National Nanotechnology Centre (Nanotec), said the National Science Foundation (NSF) had predicted that nanotechnology worldwide will be worth more than Bt40 trillion by 2015. Of that, around Bt12 trillion would be in the electronics industry, with Bt13.6 trillion in the materials industry and Bt7.2 trillion in the pharmaceuticals industry.

There are about 300 nano-products around the world, of which around 200 are healthcare and sport products.

The United States, Korea, Japan, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Sweden, China, Taiwan, Australia, Israel, Finland, Mexico, Switzerland, New Zealand, Malaysia, Thailand and Singapore have all been playing a role in nanotechnology development.

Companies based in the United States have the most products with a total of 197, followed by companies in Asia with 78 products, Europe with 60 products and elsewhere around the world with 19 products.

There is a small set of materials explicitly referenced as nanotechnology consumer products. The most common material mentioned in the product descriptions is now silver with 47 products. Carbon, which includes fullerenes and nanotubes, is the second most referenced with 40 products, followed by silica with 18 products, zinc oxide 17 products, titanium dioxide with 13 products, and cerium oxide with one.

For Thailand, there are many nanotechnology-based products and claimed products available, so Nanotec has been providing testing for nanotechnology-based products for commercial use.

Nuttapun said this was because the number of nano-claimed products or by-products was increasing dramatically.

"The cost of testing varies from hundreds to thousands of baht, and testing times vary from a week to years, depending on the complexity of testing the customers require," said Nuttapun.

To confront the arrival of nanotechnology, the concerns of industry and regulatory bodies such as the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the Office of the Consumer Protection Broad (OCPB), and Thai Industrial Standard Institute (TISI) need to be considered.

Apart from Nanotec, the FDA is paying more attention to nanotechnology. Chanin Charoenpong, a scientific adviser on health products at the FDA, said the FDA had also expanded its mandate to cover nanotechnology-based products.

The automobile industry is one pioneer industry that has adopted nanotechnology to enhance innovative features and functions for vehicles. In the next 50 years, machines will increasingly become smaller so that thousands of these tiny machines will fit into the full stop at the end of this sentence.

Within a few decades, manufacturers will use nano-machines to manufacture consumer goods at the molecular level, piecing together one atom or molecule at a time to make baseballs, telephones and cars. Scientists claim that nanotechnology will have an even more profound effect in the next century.

Nanotechnology in textiles is one of the most popular industry areas in Thailand. Innotech Textile (I-Tex), a subsidiary of United Textile Mill, a local pioneer in bacteria-free polo shirts produced using nanotechnology, is the most well known as a textile company which adopted nanotechnology to increase its competitive advantage.

Pichai Uttamapinant, managing director of Innotech Textile, a subsidiary of United Textile Mill, said the company last year received permission to use the royal ceremonial emblem to commemorate the 60th anniversary of His Majesty the King's accession to the throne, and almost 200,000 yellow polo shirts using its first-generation nanotechnology were sold.

It recently introduced shirts with "I-Tex Silver Nano Plus UV Protection". Beyond the special absorbent quality of the material, which prevents body odours escaping and protects against bacteria and fungi, the new shirts also reflect UV rays.

The fabric stops sunlight irritating the skin and helps prevent the shirts' colour from fading. These properties are especially desirable in Thailand's weather conditions.

"We have already produced 100,000 shirts with the UV protection. The technology mixes silver particles in the production process to protect against bacteria and fungi," said Pichai.

For nanotechnology in the food industry, Darunee Edwords, deputy director of Biotec and the president of the Food Science and Technology Association of Thailand (FoSTAT) said nanotechnology offers food producers many potential benefits, but its development must be guided by appropriate safety assessments and regulation if risks are to be minimised.

In the future, the science may be used in food production, and to detect how fresh food is. He predicts that nanoscale biotech and nano-bio-info will have a major impact on the food and food-processing industries.

The ability to manipulate the molecules and the atoms of food will allow the food industry to design food with much more capability and precision, and help lower costs. This will make products cheaper and production more efficient and more sustainable through less use of water and chemicals.

A report conducted by United Kingdom government estimates the nanofood market worldwide will surge from US$2.6 billion (Bt91 billion) today to $20.4 billion in 2010. Already more than 200 companies around the world are active in research and development. The United States is the leader, followed by Japan and China.

Asina Pornwasin

The Nation