Here’s something about Cuba and nanotechnology which comes from a Sept. 19, 2012 news item on the  Cuban News Agency (ACN) website,

Cuba considers nanotechnology a strategic field to achieve competitiveness and future sustainable development, given its intellectual potential.

The statement was made by the scientific advisor to the Cuban Council of State, Doctor Fidel Castro Diaz-Balart as he lectured participants, on Tuesday [Sept. 18, 2012], at the opening of the 4th International Seminar on Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, at Havana’s Conventions Center.

…
Doctor Castro Diaz-Balart said that some Cuban universities, research centers and scientific networks have been exploring these promising disciplines since the last decade and they have achieved basic knowledge and some results.

These entities are particularly under the Higher Education Ministry said the expert, who noted that given the social impact and benefits for health and biotechnology, nanomedicine and nano-biotechnology constitute focal points for the national development of nanoscience, without disregarding the significant fields of energy and environmental studies.

The Doctor announced that the first stage of the Cuban Center for Advance Studies (CEAC) will be ready next year. …

Dr. Fidel Castro Diaz-Balart is one of Fidel Castro’s sons. (For anyone who’s not familiar with the Fidel Castro and Cuba story, I suggest starting with this Wikipedia essay.) I found out a little more about Diaz-Balart on his biography webpage on the Festival of Thinkers website,

Dr Castro Diaz-Balart is the Scientific Advisor of the State Council, Republic of Cuba, a position he has held since 2003. Prior to this position he has held a number of important roles in Cuba, including Chief of Scientific and Technological Activities in Cuban Ministry of Basic Industry, the Executive Secretariat of Nuclear Matters and Executive Secretary of the Atomic Energy Commission of Cuba.

He obtained his MSc. (Hon) in Nuclear Physics, from M. V. Lomonosov State University, Moscow, in 1974. He earned his PhD in Physical-Mathematical Sciences in the I. V. Kurchatov Atomic Energy Institute in Moscow.

He obtained a MSc. equivalent degree in Strategic Planning and Higher Management from the Russian Council of Minister Management Institute in Moscow, and obtained a MSc. degree in Project Management from the School of Industrial Organization (EOI), Madrid, Spain.

In 2000, he obtained a Doctor of Sciences degree from the Higher Institute for Nuclear Sciences and Technology (ISCTN), Havana, Cuba.

There’s also an April 21, 2012 news item on the Dominican Today website describing him,

Diaz-Balart, a renowned man of science in his country and in Latin America, surprised everyone with his humility. He is the author of a dozen books that, according to Dominican minister of Culture, “honor our Fair,” whose program emphasizes scientific topics for the first time.

I have digressed. This is about Cuba and its nanotechnology strategy and I look forward to hearing more about nanotechnology research in Cuba.