A wide variety of Government supported research activities could to some extent be deemed to embrace nanoscience and nanotechnologies, thus it is not possible to accurately identify all Government funding in this area in the last 10 years.
With this proviso, the estimated Government support committed for nanotechnology work over the last 10 years amounts to about £408 million as follows:
£ million 2006-07 66.27 2005-06 66.0 2004-05 65.76 2003-04 60.80 2002-03 40.58 2001-02 50 2000-01 35.5 1999-2000 11.00 1998-99 12.39 1997-98 1— 1 No data available (as there was no nanotechnology relevant coding at this time).
It is not possible to say precisely how much the Government will spend on nanotechnology over the next 10 years. These decisions will be based on the outcome of the comprehensive spending review and commercial and academic opportunities identified by the DTI’s Technology Strategy Board and the Research Councils.