The government in Seoul, which has been working to promote nanotechnology since last year, announced that the investment program will support R&D for core research, securing R&D infrastructure and bolstering commercial scale applications of nanotechnology.

Last year's initial investments of $800 millions in nanotechnology laid the basis for R&D, training scientists and building the research infrastructure, according to officials. Korea took the sixth place worldwide in terms of the number of nanotechnology related research patents.