Canada, India, and nanotechnology Part 1

I mentioned a while back that there was a meeting with scientists from India and Canada at the National Institute of Nanotechnology in Edmonton, Alberta on Aug. 10 and 11, 2008. It was the one meeting they had in the west and Darren Frew, Nanotech BC‘s Executive Director, kindly answered questions about the meeting.

Did I get the following right?

Canada and India have a nanotech agreement to work together on some projects (recently announced)…there is funding available for this…based on this agreement, a group of Indian scientists came on a country-wide tour of Canada and met some of our nanoscientists…it was a 10 day trip with most of the stops in Eastern Canada…there was one meeting in Western Canada, held Aug. 10-11, 2008 in Edmonton at the [Canada] National Institute of Nanotechnology…

There is a working agreement on science & technology in general, not nanotech specifically

Here are the questions

Who was at the Edmonton meeting?

There were 10 visiting scientists from India, most of who are affiliated with the Indian Institute of Technology, approximately 20 people from NINT, The University of Alberta (U of A), The Alberta government and companies that have spun off from the U of A. Dr. Peyman Servati from UBC (University of British Columbia) and I were the only BC reps.

Was there some solid discussion about collaborating on future project or was it more a ‘getting to know you’ situation for everyone involved?

There was very sound discussion regarding collaboration, in fact, an agreement was signed between the National Physics Laboratory in New Delhi and one of the Edmonton-based ‘spinoff’ companies.

What kinds of projects will come out of the Aug. 10-11, 2008 meeting? or if there weren’t any specific commitments made, what areas do you see as having the most potential for future collaboration?

See above

Will there be future visits from Indian scientists?

Almost certainly

Is there a possibility they’ll come to BC on their next official Canada tour (if there is one)?

Absolutely

On Monday I’ll have the rest of the Q & A including some info. about the 2009 Cascadia Nanotech Symposium and the differences and similarities between nanotech funding in Canada and India.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *