What are your thoughts on how these resources should be most effectively used??
The following is part of press release by Alberta Advanced Education and Technology on May 2, 2007. ..
Investing in ‘the science of small’ will help generate huge returns for Albertans, said Premier Ed Stelmach, unveiling the province’s strategy to capture a $20-billion market share of the world’s burgeoning nanotechnology market.
“Our $130-million investment today will help Alberta represent part of the competitive nanotech market by 2020,” Stelmach said. “That investment can grow to an estimated $20-billion in new economic activity, helping build a stronger Alberta.”
Doug Horner, Minister of Advanced Education and Technology, said the three-pillar strategy to grow new nanotech businesses, garner nanotech talent and build nanotech infrastructure will propel Canada to be among the top five countries in the world for nano-based economic activity.
“Nanotechnology lets us discover the unique properties of materials and how we can manipulate them at molecular levels to develop products that are stronger, faster or smarter,” he said.
The province already enjoys a solid nanotechnology base because industry, government and academic institutions collaborate on research and innovation. A new $5.5-million entity called nanoAlberta will further that collaboration.“nanoAlberta will guide partnerships with industry, post-secondary institutions and government, and it will look for opportunities to make the biggest economic and social impact for Albertans,” he added.
“Alberta has shown a commitment to the future of the province by taking its investments in nanotechnology to the next level,” said Dr. Peter Hackett, President and CEO, Alberta Ingenuity. “Alberta Ingenuity is strongly aligned with the province’s plans, and we are looking at this as an opportunity to transform the research landscape in Canada by recruiting exceptional people to the province, providing exceptional support and creating exceptional results that benefit all Albertans.”
The province expects nanotechnology will accelerate innovation in Alberta’s traditional sectors of energy, agriculture and forestry as well as environmental, health and medical technologies.
Candace Toews, Communications
Alberta Advanced Education and Technology
Candace.Toews@gov.ab.ca
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
Very briefly:
1. Research funding for very specific projects with a profitable outcome. although its difficult to predict the market potential of a new technology, but health care sector is known to have great profit potential in general.
2. a big chunk of the money should perhaps be used to provide incentive for private sector players in nanotech sector to establish their R&D bases in edmonton, with well defined outcomes and profit sharing.
3. setting-up Nanoscholarships for Uof A students. students from various faculties such as Pharmacy, engineering, medicine etc should be selected to work on Nano related projects and provided project specific time bound scholarships. The best way perhaps is to identify researchers from various disciplines and then go ahead.
and all this is easier said then done, but may promote further discussion. What do rest of my colleagues think?
There are interesting opportunities in solar power and nanotechnology. The company nanosolar has just created a power sheet that is based on this technology and can produce solar power for 30 cents per watt. This will make solar power cheaper than coal. Alberta is positioned to leverage its world class energy sector to license technologies like this to use as a basis for platform building.
I also agree with Nav on his second point. To create incentives for open innovation opportunities with the private sector will be key to the efficient advancement of the sector.
Dwayne Matthews
President
Drayton Weissenfels
www.draytonweissenfels.com
Post a Comment