The Thanksgiving holiday started early in Alberta. Friday, October 8, 2010, Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced a gift of almost $2M to Alberta’s nano and microtechnology industries. From the news item on CBC News,

Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced an $1.95 million investment in the Alberta high-technology sector during his visit to Edmonton Friday.

The funding will go to the Alberta Centre for Advanced Microsystems and Nanotechnology Products (ACAMP) in Edmonton, a not-for-profit organization that companies helps bring products to market.

“This support is to help western micro and nanotechnology firms market their exciting new products in rapidly emerging markets,” Harper said.

The world market for such products should exceed $3 trillion by 2015, he added.

ACAMP’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Ken Brizel noted that ACAMP had six lead companies when it opened its doors in 2008 and now boasts over 50 clients and 30 more future prospects. I imagine you can get more information about both ACAMP and Alberta’s nanotechnology sector by checking out Alberta’s Nanotechnology Asset Map by going to this page (the downloadable PDF is in the column to the right of the page).

The Edmonton Sun also covered Harper’s announcement in an article by Richard Lebrecht. Oddly, I have not come across any mention of this announcement from the folks at Canada’s National Institute of Nanotechnology which is situated in Alberta or from the Alberta Innovates — Technology Futures folks.