Nanotechnology: Canada’s position in scientific publications and patents

Nanotechnology has been one of the main rapidly emerging technologies over the last two decades. There have been local and global scale studies which address the progress taken by this uniquely interdisciplinary field of science and which try to develop a foresight on its future applications. This paper constitutes a part of the initial phase of a comprehensive research project which aims at drawing a thorough picture of nanotechnology efforts in Canada along with foresights on its future economical impacts. This particular study presents an overview of the current situation in Canada in terms of nanotechnology based on published scientific literature and official reports. Main focus is given to bibliographic metrics such as scientific publications and patents related to nanotechnology in order to produce a characteristic of Canada´s present global position.