The directors of three Kavli nanoscience institutes Paul Alivisatos, Paul McEuen, and Nai-Chang Yeh discuss what makes the nanoscale so important, the fields grand challenges, safety challenges, and their thoughts on funding, training and the future.

SOMETHING VERY SMALL has the potential to make some very big changes in our world.

Over the past decade, nanoscale materials and devices so small that hundreds could fit inside the diameter of a single strand of hair, have begun to show up in everything from golf clubs to targeted drug delivery systems and new types of optical and electronic devices. In the laboratory, researchers are demonstrating nanoscale devices that may hold the key to quantum computing, artificial photosynthesis, high-speed genomic analysis, and even invisibility cloaks.

In fact, nanosciences reach is so broad and so profound, it is often difficult to understand how its various strands are alike and different, and what we must do to nurture further innovation. The Inaugural Symposium of the new Kavli Energy NanoScience Institute (Kavli ENSI) at University of California, Berkeley, and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratoryseems a good time to step back and address some of those issues, as well as nanosciences future potential.

In 2013, the Kavli Energy NanoScience Institute at the University of California, Berkeley, and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory was founded. Its mission: to unravel the most intimate details of nature's energy secrets and harness them to build fundamentally new types of energy systems. On its inauguration, re-read the profile of Kavli ENSI announcing its establishment.

Kavli ENSI, which is dedicated to energy-related nanoscience research, is the fifth nanoscience institute funded by The Kavli Foundation. The other four, each with its own special focus, include:

In advance of the Kavli ENSI Inaugural Symposium, the directors of three Kavli nanoscience institutes discussed the future of nanoscience. They include:

The following is an edited transcript of a roundtable discussion. The participants have been provided the opportunity to amend or edit their remarks.

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Q&A: Alivisatos, Kavli directors explore future of nanoscience