Networking resources for research and scientific education in nanoscience and nanotechnologies

Research in nanotechnology and nanosciences requires complex and expensive equipment. Thus, enhancement of access to experimental resources for a broad audience of students and distributed researchers is an important challenge for improving knowledge acquisition in these fields. Innovative methods of web-based information technology provide new approaches for realizing virtual working environments supporting the sharing of resources and boosting collaborative work between researchers. A concept for extending existing virtual knowledge spaces for the means of the technological disciplines is presented, and the integration of networked virtual laboratories and remote experiments - the ldquoCATLABS-approachrdquo - together with its subprojects NANOTEACH and NANOGRID are introduced.