Due to persistence of Covid-19 epidemic situation, the VI edition of NanoInnovation has been held from 21 to 24 September 2021 again in a hybrid way. The organizers have structured the event with the purpose of ensuring a wide participation, while keeping a strict respect of the rules for health protection and against the epidemic diffusion. The event has been a success, going beyond the results of the previous years, in terms of diversity of themes addressed, networking opportunities and participation. As in our tradition, the conference has been hosted by the usual venue, in the Renaissance Cloister by Sangallo at the Faculty of Civil and Industrial Engineering of Sapienza University of Rome, well-equipped to allow the streaming connection from all the conference rooms. This dual channel organization has been again really appreciated by the delegates who attended the Conference sessions and the connected events.

NanoInnovation 2021 can praise 1.494 online registered participants, 610 of which present at the conference site and the remainders remotely connected, for a total amount of 3.839 presences, in attendance and remotely, at the different activities carried out during the four days of conference, from the opening plenary sessions to the update training, from the thematic symposia to schools and satellite events.

The conference symposia have been proposed and organized by 24 co-organizers, whose contribution is warmly acknowledged. They fully understood and interpreted at the best the bottom-up principle, which is traditionally the structuring method of our event.

We are particularly indebted with all the colleagues participating in the technical-scientific symposia, starting from more than 80 chairs who greatly managed the dense programme of NanoInnovation, including:  1 opening session, 1 round table, 2 scientific plenary sessions, 4 parallel scientific lectures, 1 technical lecture, 1 lectio magistralis held by Dr. Venkatraman Ramakrishnan, 2009 Nobel Prize in Chemistry on “My adventures in the ribosome: Nature's amazing nanomachine”, 79 technical thematic symposia, 6 scientific multi-sessions workshops, 4 special events, 5 joint events, 2 schools, 1 update training organized in collaboration with Ordine degli Ingegneri della Provincia di Roma, 8 satellite events,  84 posters in a dedicated session and 1 NEST prize for young researchers.

The contribution of more than 500 speakers who, in attendance and remotely, shared with us their knowledge and expertise, filling of interesting contents the scientific program, is gratefully acknowledged.

We warmly thank the 21 exhibitors, the 20 supporters and the 12 institutional and scientific patronages, whose contribution helped in keeping NanoInnovation an open event with free access for all people interested in nano-bio-technologies and the other key enabling technologies.

Our deepest appreciation to Sapienza University of Rome for the kind hospitality, support and contribution. We are particularly grateful to the Faculty of Civil and Industrial Engineering (ICI) for allowing the access to the Renaissance Cloister despite this difficult epidemic situation and to the Department of Basic and Applied Sciences for Engineering (SBAI) for the support during the preparation of NanoInnovation 2021.

We are also indebted with the Agency for the Promotion of European Research (APRE) for organizing remotely the networking event with more than 50 Registered Participants and 30 meetings organized.

In conclusion, the organizers are really proud of this success, which demonstrates that, despite the persistence of this unusual social situation due to the epidemic, the technical-scientific community belonging to nanotechnology is actively working to realize and exploit new research activities, applications and innovations and is still strictly connected and that the modern communication tools can support the scientific discussion, even if the physical contacts have to be limited.

See you next year!

20 – 23 September, 2022