Nanotechnology and microtechnologies offer the most potential for impacting the future of a huge range of sectors, explains Ankit A Shukla, Practice Director of Technical Insights (Europe) at Frost & Sullivan

Up to 85% of technologies developed globally never see the commercial light of day because they flounder in the so-called ‘valley of death’ – the virtual chasm that so often separates applied research from technology demonstration. To help industry stakeholders circumnavigate these dangers, it is necessary to evolve emerging technology platforms well poised to profoundly impact manifold sectors across the globe, while offering a potentially high return on investment (ROI). Following scanning and fore sighting of the global innovation landscape, it is of no surprise that nanotechnology (and the family of enabling capabilities) has been consistently identified as one of the most promising areas, with significant impact on our lives in the future.