Analysis

This is the first publicly available on-line inventory of nanotechnology-based consumer products.

The inventory is an essential resource for consumers, citizens, policymakers, and others who are interested in learning about how nanotechnology is entering the marketplace. It is meant to be international and expanding. Additions to the inventory will be made periodically, as new information is received. Products recently added to the inventory are marked with the “New” symbol. Users are encouraged to submit new and updated information to nano@wilsoncenter.org.

Summary Information

As of August 21, 2008, the nanotechnology consumer products inventory contains 803 products or product lines. For each entry, the following information is provided: • Product name • Company, manufacturer or supplier • Country of origin • Category and subcategory • Product picture • Product description • Hyperlink to product webpage • Date of update

For reference, the dark bar in figures 1-4 indicates the relevant number of products in the inventory when it was released on March 8, 2006.

Products were grouped according to relevant main categories (Figure 1) that are loosely based on publicly available consumer product classification systems. The largest main category is Health and Fitness, with a total of 502 products. This includes products like cosmetics and sunscreens.

Products with relevance to multiple categories have been accounted for multiple times in Figure 1. Associated with each category are a number of appropriate sub-categories that allow for further organization of the products. For example, Paint is a sub-category under Home and Garden, while Display is a sub-category under Electronics and Computers. The Cross-Cutting category was included as a grouping of products that are multi-functional. Currently, the only sub-category under Cross-Cutting is Coatings. In addition, 82 products have a “generic” designation, indicating that they are commercial technologies that will be used in, or are currently appearing in, consumer products.

Figure 2 illustrates the sub-categories associated with the largest main category, Health and Fitness. It includes Cosmetics (126 products), Clothing (115), Personal Care (153), Sporting Goods (82), Sunscreen (33), and Filtration (40). Again, products with relevance to multiple categories have been accounted for multiple times. The Cosmetics, Clothing and Personal Care sub-categories are now the largest in the inventory.

The inventory now includes products from 21 different countries, including the United States, Korea, Japan, United Kingdom, Germany, France, China, Taiwan, Australia, Israel, Finland, Mexico, Switzerland, New Zealand, Malaysia, Thailand, Sweden, Singapore, Canada, and Italy. With this update, the inventory now includes Denmark. Figure 3 illustrates the breakdown of products by region and indicates that companies based in the United States have the most products, with a total of 426, followed by companies in Asia (227), Europe (108), and elsewhere around the world (38). Two products have no country designation.

As Figure 4 indicates, there is a small set of materials explicitly referenced in nanotechnology consumer products. The most common material mentioned in the product descriptions is now silver (235). Carbon, which includes fullerenes, is the second most referenced (71), followed by zinc (including zinc oxide) (29), silica (31), titanium (including titanium dioxide) (38), and gold (16).

As of August 2008, the inventory has grown by nearly 279% (from 212 to 803 products) since it was released in March 2006.