Tag Archives: clean technology

Dublin (Ireland) hosts Europe’s largest nanotechnology conference

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The announcement of Dublin’s nano hosting duties is in a Mar. 14, 2013 news item on Nanowerk  (Note: A link has been removed),

The 6th biannual conference, EuroNanoForum 2013, will gather experts and decision-makers of the nanotechnology community to Dublin this June. EuroNanoForum 2013 is the largest nanotechnology conference in Europe and will focus on the impact of nanotechnology in improving people’s lives, especially in the key societal sectors such as health, energy and environment. The event coincides with Nanotech Europe exhibition and the Nanoweek Ireland.

“The conference showcases innovation as a driver of economic growth. New technologies arising from nano-science and their applications are presented and potential new end products are discussed”, describes Herbert von Bose, Director, European Commission, DG Research & Innovation, Industrial Technologies.

The EuroNanoForum March 14, 2013 news release, which originated the news item, can be found here.

The forum organizers have created a Hot Topics page on the conference website (you can register for EuroNanoForum 2013 here) which provides some compelling reasons for attending,

Self-cleaning walls, lightweight airplanes and hydrogen fueled scooters drive the nano-future at EuroNanoForum 2013

We claim that by 2030, Europe will be a frontrunner in sustainable economy. The European Cleantech sector is steadily growing and it is taking a leading position in the global markets.  Companies, nations, and international consortia will capitalise on the business opportunity and what we have so far seen is just the tip of a vastly growing iceberg.

In EuroNanoForum 2013 Henning Zoz, the President of the Zoz Group, will present a concept which will revolutionize the refueling infrastructure. In the plenary, Nano in everyday life, he will elaborate on his company’s innovation – small tank cartridges containing nanostructured powder that can store an enormous amount of hydrogen virtually without pressure. With such changeable tanks it is already possible to drive a scooter, at Zoz GmbH in Wenden. The innovation ensures that surplus electricity output from renewable energy sources economically converted into hydrogen can be consumed as transportation-fuel.

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Cure for cancer and improving hearing implants

Hans Hofstraat, VP of Philips Healthcare, and Patrick Boisseau, the Chairman of the ETP Nanomedicine, will lead the cadre of healthcare specialists in EuroNanoForum 2013. In Dublin we will hear what is the role of nanotechnology in answering the societal challenge of ageing populations. Moreover, will nano make vital medicine available to all people – not only in Europe but worldwide?

Over 60 million citizens in the EU suffer from hearing loss with its associated restrictions. Pascal Senn, Project Coordinator of NanoCi project from University of Bern, will present on the first conference day at the Healthcare session, how their project is developing implants to improve hearing. Using functional nano-materials, including carbon nanotubes, NanoCi aims at developing a cost-efficient and fully implantable neuro-prosthesis with substantially increased sound quality.

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The Graphene Flagship will sail to EuroNanoForum 2013

The European Commission has chosen Graphene as one of Europe’s first 10-year, 1,000 million euro FET flagships. The mission of the flagship is to take graphene and related layered materials from academic laboratories to society, revolutionize multiple industries and create economic growth and new jobs in Europe. The Graphene flagship is a new form of joint, coordinated research initiative of unprecedented scale. It brings together an academic-industrial consortium aiming at a breakthrough for technological innovation. Involved are Nobel Laureates, top-notch research groups and the next generation industrial leaders.

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From the start in 2013 the Graphene Flagship will coordinate 126 academic and industrial research groups in 17 European countries with an initial 30-month-budget of 54 million euro. The consortium will be extended with another 20-30 groups through an open call, issued soon after the start of the initiative, just after EuroNanoForum 2013. Will you sail with the ship or be left behind on the shore?

Wish I could be there.

ETA Apr. 22, 2013: Drat! I don’t like it when someone else does it. Well, I like it even less when I do it! I see the EuroNanoforum dates are not mentioned, they are June 18 – 20, 2013.

Ted Sargent and Inerjys

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Ted Sargent, Canada Research Chair in Nanotechnology, University of Toronto, has been mentioned here a number of times regarding his work on solar cells. Here are a few of the mostly recent postings (not a complete list), June 28, 2011, July 11, 2011, and Sept. 20, 2011.

Now, a Montréal-based company, Inerjys Ventures has just announced that Ted Sargent has joined their board of advisors. From the Jan. 9, 2012 news item on MarketWatch,

Inerjys Ventures, a $1 billion renewable energy strategic investment fund and global leader in green finance, announced today that it has constituted a board of advisors and named its first members. Inerjys has brought together thought leaders from renewable energy, finance and government to guide its decisions and strategic vision as the world approaches a clean energy economy.

The announcement comes at a decisive time for Inerjys, which was recently featured at the prestigious World Climate Summit in Durban, South Africa. The firm is currently developing several large-scale renewable energy projects worldwide, to be announced as it completes the closing of its renewable energy investment fund, Inerjys Ventures. At a projected capitalization of $1 billion CAD, Inerjys Ventures will be the largest cleantech venture vehicle in Canada and one of the largest in the world. The board will convene regularly to direct the growth of Inerjys and will lend their expertise to analyze investment opportunities in Canada and around the world.

You can learn more about Inerjys here.

Patenting and copyrighting intellectual property; the role of technical innovation; more on London’s digital cloud

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I keep expecting someone to try patenting/copyrighting/trademarking a nanoparticle or some such nanoscale object. If you believe that to be unthinkable, I suggest you read this (from TechDirt’s  Mike Masnick’s news item here),

We’ve seen a few ridiculous cases whereby local governments claim copyright on a law [emphasis mine], but it’s still stunning to see what’s going on in Liberia. Tom sends in the news that no one knows what the law covers in Liberia, because one man, leading a small group of lawyers, claims to hold the copyright on the laws of the country and won’t share them unless people (or, rather, the government of Liberia) is willing to pay. Oh, and did we mention that the US government paid for some of this?

Masnick’s article provides a link to more information in the story, He’s got the law (literally) in his hands, by Jina Moore and Glenna Gordon. While I find the situation extreme what strikes me first in Masnick’s piece is that it’s not unusual. So if people are actually going to try and copyright a law, why not a nanoparticle?

Coincidentally, China and India have made a proposal to eschew intellectual property rights with regard to green/clean technologies prior to the big climate talks during December (2009) in Copenhagen.  From the news item on Nanowerk,

As world leaders prepare for climate talks in Copenhagen next month, developing nations have tabled a controversial proposal which would effectively end patent protection for clean technologies.
China and India have floated the idea of making new green technology subject to ‘compulsory licensing’, which critics say amounts to waiving intellectual property rights.
The idea of adapting or liberalising patent rules for crucial new inventions which can help reduce carbon emissions is not new, but the EU and US are unhappy with compulsory licensing, fearing it would dramatically reduce the incentive for businesses to innovate and stifle green job creation.
Compulsory licensing has to date only been used in emergency situations where patent-protected pharmaceuticals were seen as prohibitively expensive. The Thai government used the mechanism to allow local medicines factories [to] produce HIV drugs at a fraction of the cost.

I’m guessing the reason that this item was posted on Nanowerk is that nanotechnology is often featured as an enabler of cleaner/greener products.

On a related theme, Andrew Maynard has posted his thoughts on the World Economic Forum that he attended last week in Dubai (from his Nov.22.09 posting),

Developing appropriate technology-based solutions to global challenges is only possible if  technology innovation policy is integrated into the decision-making process at the highest levels in government, industry and other relevant organizations.  Without such high-level oversight, there is a tendency to use the technology that’s available, rather than to develop the technology that’s needed.  And as the challenges of living in an over-populated and under-resourced world [emphasis mine] escalate, this will only exacerbate the disconnect between critical challenges and technology-based solutions.

The importance of technology innovation – and emerging technologies in particular – was highlighted by Lord Malloch-Brown in his closing remarks at this year’s Summit on the Global Agenda.  Yet there is still a way to go before technology innovation is integrated into the global agenda dialogue, rather than being tacked on to it

Maynard provides an intriguing insight into some of the international agenda which includes a much broader range of discussion topics that I would have expected from something called an ‘economic’ forum.  You can read more about the World Economic Forum organization and its latest meeting here.

I wasn’t expecting to find out more about London Olympics 2012”s digital cloud proposed project on Andy Miah’s website as I tend to associate him with human enhancement, Olympic sports, post humanism, and nanotechnology topics. I keep forgetting about his media interests. Here’s his latest (Nov.22.09) posting on the Digital Olympics (title of his new book) where he includes images and a video about the architectural project.