Press Releases
U.S. Delegation Visit to NanoForum (Moscow, December 3-5, 2008)
U.S. government, business, and scientific representatives were pleased to participate in the first annual International Nanotechnology Forum from December 3-5, 2008, organized by the Russian Corporation for Nanotechnology (Rosnano). As also highlighted during the visit of Rosnano officials to the United States in July, the United States supports Russia’s efforts to focus on innovation -- both for its importance in generating economic growth in Russia as well as for how its stimulation will link Russian scientists, entrepreneurs, and officials even more closely with their international colleagues, including in the United States.
The Forum highlighted that developing nanotechnology effectively requires not only a commitment to innovation and ingenuity, but targeted government support and active international cooperation. This will enable nanotechnology to reach its potential to improve areas of human endeavor from electronics to materials and chemicals to health science and even energy production. Over 600 nanotech products already exist; new ones are coming to market at a pace of three to four a week. In what is estimated to be an over one-trillion-dollar nanotechnology market by 2015, new materials and processes will make most products lighter, cleaner, stronger, smaller, less expensive, and more precise. Nanotechnology development will fundamentally improve some of the world’s biggest global challenges, including energy, water, food, and health.
Dr. Paras N. Prasad, Professor of Chemistry and Director of the Institute for Lasers, Photonics, and Biophotonics at SUNY Buffalo, described to the hundreds of Opening Plenary participants the promise of the wide range of applications for nanotechnology, including some ready for commercialization.
Dr. James Murday, the first Director of the U.S. National Nanotechnology initiative, described how the U.S. government’s broad investment in and coordination of basic research at the nanoscale has been a critical element of the innovation process. He also chaired the panel with representatives from a number of countries with nanotechnology initiatives that discussed how governments can best support the development of nanotechnology.
Special Representative for Commercial and Business Affairs J. Frank Mermoud stressed to the panel on international engagement that continuous international collaboration is critical to reap the full benefit of nanotechnology because it is mutually beneficial, can bring products to the marketplace more quickly, and will allow us to better understand the potential human and environmental risks of nanotechnology in order to maintain consumer confidence. Mr. Mermoud expressed hope that Russia will participate even more actively with the OECD Working Party on Nanotechnology as it develops policy related to commercialization; he urged Russia and other countries to join those countries with nano programs that are contributing financially to OECD projects. He also welcomed Russia’s plans to get involved with testing in the framework of the OECD’s Working Party on Manufactured Nanomaterials. He reviewed the many ways in which the United States and Russia cooperate to develop science and technology, including the Bilateral Science and Technology Agreement and the Joint Commission that implements, the multilateral International Science and Technology Center, the U.S. Civilian Research and Development Foundation, the U.S. - Russia Innovation Council on High Technologies, and the prodigious amount of work that U.S. companies and scientists do with Russian government, academic, and corporate entities in addition to governmental agreements.
Dozens of other U.S. business representatives, scientists, and officials also attended the NanoForum.
Mr. Mermoud and other U.S. government representatives reiterated the U.S. government’s interest in exploring bilateral cooperation on areas also discussed in July with the visiting Rosnano delegation:
- Modeling and simulation of the properties of photonic and electronic materials at the nanoscale;
- Modeling and simulation of the properties of engineered nanoscale materials in a biological environment, including predictive toxicology;
- Self assembly of nanostructured materials and devices;
- Instrumentation and techniques for characterizing physicochemical properties of materials at the nanoscale, including biological materials;
- Instrumentation and methods for detecting and characterizing engineered nanoscale materials in the body or the environment, and protocols for evaluating their human health impacts and environmental effects; and
- Nanomaterials for water purification and environmental remediation.
