Dedicated to Professor Hansgeorg Schnöckel on the occasion of his 65th birthday Nanoscale luminescent materials are of increasing importance for established technologies (for example, displays, lamps, and X-ray detectors), [1] and are essential for upcoming applications. New applications of nanoscale phosphors include transparent luminescent layers or markers (for example, on metal, ceramics, plastics, or paper), luminescent fillers in transparent matrices (for example, glass or plastics), as well as biomedical applications such as fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) assays, biolabelling, optical imaging, or phototherapy.[2]With quantum yields exceeding 50 %, quantum dots of II-VI or III-V semiconductors, and nanoparticles of rare-earthdoped metal phosphates are the state-of-the-art luminescent materials.