Nanotechnology in Construction: A Roadmap for Development

Abstract

Roadmaps were originally developed as tools for finding surface routes for getting from one place to another. Recently, the scope of a roadmap has been extended to cover tools used for indication of pathways for reaching predicted future developments, for assessing progress and indicating trends. This was applied to developments in application of Nanotechnology within the broad domain of Construction. The Roadmap for Nanotechnology in Construction (RoNaC) was first developed in 2003 as an aid for forecasting research and investment directions, with a timescale of 25 years. Five years have elapsed and progress has been achieved along a few pathways indicated in the original RoNaC. However, construction industry continues to lag behind in both the awareness of the potential and the expected commercial exploitation of nanotechnology. This paper provides an updated version based on the three original sectorial charts, indicating where tangible progress has been made, where research is active and where advance along the predicted pathways has slowed down or stopped altogether.