Materials continue to play a dominant role in our society, as they have through the millennia. The developments in nanotechnology provide a unique opportunity to not only develop new classes of materials but also do so in harmony with a goal of sustainable development. There is, however, a large gap between the promise of nanotechnology and its integration into a new generation of nano-enabled products. The first half of this paper focuses on the promise of nanotechnology by exploring a novel, self-assembly based technique for the production of structural ceramics, which have the potential to dramatically affect a range of products such as power turbines and aircraft engines. In the second half of the paper examines some of the challenges in setting up a nano-engineered value chain, which is critical for a new generation of nano-enabled products.