Nanoscience and nanotechnology are strategic, fast growing and competitive areas of research, with important ramifications in many areas, such as information technology and telecommunications, medicine and biology, chemistry and materials, energy and the environment. However, the design and fabrication of nano-structures, and their integration into nano-devices requires the contributions of scientists capable of reaching out across traditional boundaries : mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology ; all have their place in the development of new systems and the specific instrumentation needed to fabricate and investigate structures and properties at increasingly smaller scales. These skills flourish in Aquitaine, as does the willingness to put them to work together in a crossdisciplinary approach to reach ambitious goals that push back the frontiers in nanoscience and nanotechnology.
