Abstract
In 2006, the revenue associated with the global carbon nanotube (CNT) market
was estimated at 51 million US dollars. Studies targeting this field
anticipate sustained growth of this market over the next few years, with year
on year growth estimated at around 70%, which would lead to a market worth
more than 800 million US dollars in 2011.
After 15 years of development and despite a considerable delay in market
growth compared to original forecasts, a few experts now believe that carbon
nanotube technology is finally close to being used in the highest added value
and greatest potential applications.
The expected success of CNTs stems from their exceptional characteristics,
particularly their mechanical properties (excellent rigidity yet extremely
light), electrical properties (excellent characteristics in terms of
conductivity and mobility, enabling significant progress to be made in terms
of miniaturisation), field emission properties (SAMSUNG and MOTOROLA have
already produced prototypes of CNT flat screens), and also their optical and
chemical properties.
Thanks to these outstanding characteristics, CNTs are opening up significant
avenues of progress in nearly all fields of activity and particularly in
telecommunications, electronics, optics, automotive industry, medicine,
batteries, fuel cells and aeronautics.
Many players from industry are demonstrating keen interest in the applications
that ensue from such remarkable properties and have already marked out their
positions in this sector by building up sizeable patent portfolios.
This document aims to establish as comprehensive a panorama as possible of the
intellectual property associated with carbon nanotubes and to analyse the
strategic positions of the companies involved in this sector.
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