On 1st February 2004, 23 public and non profit research organisations from 12 European Members States and Associates States joined forces in a unique initiative transforming Europe's pool of experts into the largest and most tightly organized network of experts in nanobiotechnology to date.

	Major Achievements - Nano2Life

Nano2Life's goal is to increase Europe's industrial competitiveness and scientific excellence in nanobiotechnology, by maximising the expertise and the knowledge accumulated by its partners. The current major bottleneck of the implementation of nanobiotechnology is the wide fragmentation and dispersion of disciplines and skills. Therefore experts face problems when intending to work together and to produce innovation. The second main difficulty lies in the identification of real market and clinical opportunities for nanotechnology-based applications in life sciences, environment, and health. In this context, the main efforts of Nano2Life have focused on bridging complementary skills, disciplines, and units so that synergies can lead to top leading joint research and development projects leading to resulting in innovation and new applications in nanobiotechnology and nanomedicine.

Prior to being able to bring people together, one needs to create a mutual understanding of basic scientific and technological concepts. Therefore, the education and training of experts has been another major focus of Nano2Life. With special emphasis on young scientists, this activity will dramatically increase the scope of cooperation and education of our members in many fields with respect to nanobiotechnology. The educational scheme will contribute significantly to the reduction in the huge gap between technology providers and biologists, clinicians or end users, in other words between the "Life" and "Nano" worlds.

Access to the wide range of techniques and competences required for the design, development, and testing of nanobiotech devices will be made easier thanks to the interconnection of expertise and open access to all equipment made available to our members, - thus transforming Nano2Life into the largest nanobiotechnology lab in the world.

To accurately identify the future applications of nanobiotechnology, Nano2Life has closely associated itself with industry and scientists in the definition of real market needs. These needs will then be translated into roadmaps which will mark the path for research and development.

But the economic development of the nanobiotechnology market does not rely only on progress in science and technology. The novelty of this enabling technology requires a dedicated ethical, legal, and societal approach. Therefore, Nano2Life aims to contribute to shape the environment for the implementation of nanobiotechnology-based applications. This also encompasses raising awareness of the greater public as well as of the scientific and industrial communities to nanobiotechnology.

In conclusion, Nano2Life aims at paving the way for a strong, coordinated, and effective European integrated network of human and technological resources exploring and implementing new nanotechnology-based applications in life sciences, medicine, and the environment. After four years of operation, one can claim that Nano2Life has achieved the majority of its initial objectives.