oa Editorial

A mini revolution is taking place where developments in micro and nanosystems will lead to a whole range of new products that will have enhanced functionality and reliability with reduced cost. Micro and nanosystems will act as disruptive technologies for a variety of sectors. Innovations will, however, be required in a variety of areas to take the concepts to the market. Examples of such products include e-paper, portable displays and lab-on-chip systems that can provide chemical and biological information. Micro and nanosystems are often required to integrate sensing, processing and actuating functions with a need to integrate mechanical, electrical and biological functions. As a consequence, the field is highly interdisciplinary, it combines amongst others physics, materials, chemistry, biology, engineering as well as micro and nanomanufacturing. We are witnessing a very significant growth in interest and research effort devoted to this field and we therefore believe that this journal is timely. Specifically, we hope that the journal will provide a space for conversations between the different disciplines to allow innovation and speed up the development of micro and nanosystems. We can anticipate developments in a new generation of intelligent sensor and actuator systems as well as devices for energy management. The integration of chemical and biological components as part of micro and nanodevices will be used to meet the ever increasing demand for chemical and biological information in sectors such as health, environment, agriculture and food, security, and environmental. Examples include highly automated systems to provide high content information for drug discovery or easy to use point-of-care devices. Innovations in materials and the integration of organic electronics will lead to a range of new micro and nanodevices. The development of new manufacturing approaches, e.g. printable processes, for a variety of substrates, including polymers, will lead to reduction in cost of micro and nanosystems. A high profile Editorial Board, with extensive experience of various disciplines, has been assembled to support the development of the Journal. I am very grateful for the guidance and support that they have already given. I would also very much welcome suggestions from you for improvements to the Journal and your support through submission of papers.