Springer Nature expands its nanotechnology research solution with the inclusion of over 22 million patents

A new module has now been added to the nanotechnology research database Nano. The patent module allows users to sort through over 22 million nano-related patents across all major jurisdictions and languages. This means that researchers can find patents from areas highly affected by nanotechnology, narrow their search by country, filing year and jurisdiction, and ultimately demonstrate the scientific and commercial value of their project and its anticipated impact. All researchers who currently have access to Nano will be able to use this new module.

Nano was launched by Springer Nature in 2016 and serves as a critical point of reference for nanotechnology researchers with expertly-curated data summaries of more than 260,000 nanomaterials. These summaries enable researchers to quickly find and compare information such as properties, biological effects/ toxicities, applications, characterization and preparation methods. The abstracting and indexing module utilizes advanced artificial intelligence-powered search capabilities to connect researchers to more than 720,000 nanotechnology-related research papers published in leading journals.

Nanoscience and technology is a rapidly growing and competitive field which has shifted from exploration to commercialization bringing about massive opportunities and a focus on intellectual property. Nanotechnology is also revolutionizing many industrial sectors, including information technology, defense, medicine, transportation, energy, environmental science, telecommunications and electronics. The European Commission estimates the sector to be worth in excess of USD 1 trillion.

Jens Kroeger, Chief Technology Officer at Raymor Industries and NanoIntegris, said: “Scientific discovery and publication in nanotechnology has increased tremendously over the past decade.  However, significant risks are inherent in the commercialization of discoveries. These include long adoption cycles and associated costs with extended testing and scale-up. To offset these risks, developers must protect IP and ensure patentability before embarking on the perilous road towards commercialization. Given the wealth of public information, it is difficult for researchers to get a clear overview of the prior art, and computer-assisted patentability research has become a must. Fortunately for patent agents and university technology transfer offices, Springer Nature has developed just the right module for this task. With their unprecedented database and their AI-powered algorithm, Nano’s patent module finds the most relevant prior-art, thereby establishing patentability or freedom to operate.”

Bettina Goerner, Managing Director Databases at Springer Nature, said: “The new patent module is built for researchers with all levels of patent search expertise. Nano’s intuitive and simple search interface, in addition to the large collection of articles and nanomaterial summaries developed through extensive user feedback, empowers researchers to easily incorporate patent search into their workflow and utilize Nano as a strategic scientific and commercial evaluation tool.”