Towards an African nanotechnology future: trends, impacts and opportunities

Abstract

Nanotechnology presents developing countries with significant opportunities and challenges for advancing their economic, environmental and social development aspirations, including the full attainment of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. As an enabling factor, nanotechnology is likely to have an impact on all 17 Sustainable Development Goals. There are no data available on the number of African companies marketing nanotechnology products and processes. However, a number of such firms are already in existence. One of the emerging areas of interest is nanotechnology-enabled digital identification, where nanotechnology incorporated into physical documents or assets can provide reliable, long-term, efficient and tamper-free security, along the lines of the security that can be provided for digital assets by block chain technology applications.