Jun 23 2009
An announcement was made today at the 2009 Nano Renewable Energy Summit in Denver, Colorado that nanotechnology stakeholders in five states in the Southwest United States, along with northern Mexico, are joining forces to create the Southwest Nano Consortium. The consortium will pool resources to highlight nanotechnology activity in the region, encourage collaborative ventures, and host internationally recognized events. The Southwest Nano Consortium consists of Nano Networks and Alliances in Arizona, Colorado, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Texas and northern Mexico
"The nanotech expertise and activity represented in this corridor of the southwest is unparalleled elsewhere," stated Griffith A. Kundahl, Executive Chairman of the Colorado Nanotechnology Alliance, a non-profit association that represents the Colorado nanotechnology community. "This consortium will be a key vehicle to expedite the commercialization of technologies which will have a significant impact on renewable energy, biotech, IT and other key sectors, and boost the economy in the process."
"The Oklahoma Nanotechnology Initiative and its funding organization the Oklahoma Center for the Advancement of Science and Technology (OCAST) have long believed that working together as a region makes so much sense," said ONI Executive Director Jim Mason. "We are very enthusiastic to be one of the partners in the newly formed Southwest Nano Consortium which is an outgrowth of the National Nanotechnology Initiative's Regional Nano Initiatives meeting, hosted in Oklahoma City in April, 2009. As a region we have so many strengths and assets which will accelerate our abilities to support and assist each other as we advance our efforts in Nanotechnology."
"Existing nanotechnology-related assets, endowments, and activity in the Southwest United States exceed $4 Billion dollars. There are more world class national laboratories, institutes, centers of excellence, universities, defense installations, researchers, super computers, grants, and commercial activity around nanotechnology here than anywhere else in the US," stated Scott Bryant, Executive Director for the Micro and Nanotechnology Commercialization Education Foundation. "What has been missing is a platform for regional collaboration. This consortium will enhance the interaction between education, investment, research, and commercialization; and will vastly improve the environment for economic development. With cooperation and communication, the Southwest will become a Small Tech superpower . . . quietly at first, but dramatically as time moves forward."
"Nanotechnology is firmly entrenched as one of the 2-3 technologies that are powering the next wave of economic and human development. The Southwest Nano Consortium, consisting of Nano Networks and Alliances in Arizona, Colorado, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Texas and northern Mexico, are an example of how collaboration will seed wide-spread economic and educational success," stated Dr. Steven Walsh, Chair of the Nano Network of New Mexico and Alfred Black Professor of Entrepreneurship, University of New Mexico. "Regions which collaborate and proactively invest in innovative technologies are likely to receive unparalleled job and wealth creation benefits over the next 50 years."
Dr. Alberto Correa, President of Quantum Research of the West, Inc. and Professor of Science Entrepreneurship, University of Texas at El Paso, considered that establishing the Nano Consortium "is another firm step in integrating regional innovation efforts, where the private sector and academia can join forces to find solutions via nanotechnologies, to the many challenges globalized economies face in the XXI Century".