Here are the highlights from the Plenary session on day two of the IEEE San Francisco Bay Area Nanotechnology Council 6th Annual Symposium“Nanotechnology: State of the Art & Applications”
Dr. Burton Lee, Stanford University, “State of European Nanotech.”
- Discussed European framework for funding. However, financial crisis requires radical innovation to spur industrial growth and stability.
- Political process is more complicated due to multi-nation involvement. The EC takes a broader view than the US since they have top-down coordination of activities.
- Focus is on industrial applications, nano-electronics & photonics, automotive, and construction (including energy innovation).
- EU wide 740 M Euro / year goes to support nanotechnology. Germany has the largest spending of 290 M Euro / year.
- However, there are questions about the true level of commitment to nanotechnology within the EU
- Example their web pages are out of date. Showed an example of 2007 last update. http://cordis.europa.eu/nanotechnology/ July 2009 last update
- Showed statistics from surveys of industry, government and NGOs in Germany. More often than not complete polar opposites on what should be done.
- Summary: Excellent fundamental research but not having global impact.
Questions:
- Impact on US? A: It is very tough to raise venture capital in Europe in coming years. Many European companies are moving to Silicon Valley. They develop their product here and then release to Europe.
- How about clean tech vs nano tech? A: Clean tech has been around 30 years. There is more interest in clean tech and it is simpler to implement via tax credits.
High Technology Business Development - Ira Feldman 