Apr 1 2010
The Swiss Biotech Association serves this purpose but, due to the wide-spread activities of its members, topic or product focused pooling of interests is a challenge. Therefore, the Association identified industrial and academic players as well as issues within the field of nanotechnology and life sciences to create the Nanotech Platform.
The aim of these events is the gathering of ideas and the further identification of mutual interests that are important to this industry segment. Innovative ideas might be furthered with industry-industry or academic-industry projects. An introductory overview by Dr. Paul Seidler from IBM Research - Zurich on “Nanotechnology from an IT Perspective” led over to Viola Vogel from the ETH Zürich who spoke about “Nanobiology”.
Two company presentations by Joël Rossier from diagnoSwiss SA on “Nanofluidics” and Friedrich Heitger from arrayon biotechnology SA on “Nanosurfaces” completed the industry side of the event. The final contribution by Gerd Folkers, Collegium Helveticum on “Hypes and Hopes in Nanotechnology and Life Sciences” set the ground for a stimulating discussion on the next steps within the platform.
The next nanotechnology platform planned at IBM Forum Zurich Research will cover the topics “Lab-on-a-Chip” (June 15) and “Drug Delivery (October). Swiss Biotech Association The Swiss Biotech Association (SBA) is the national industry association of enterprises active in biotechnology, pharmaceutics, diagnostics, food industry, environmental sciences and specialty chemicals. Since its creation in 1998 with the objective to cater to the needs of SMEs, over 200 members have joined the association, including several multinational companies.
Other platforms of the SBA are:
- Swiss Life Sciences Marketing Alliance
- Antibody Platform
- Regulatory Platform
- Industrial (White) Biotechnology
- BioActors (Platform for Human Resources)
IBM Research - Zurich IBM Research – Zurich is one IBM’s eight research laboratories around the globe. This network of some 3000 scientists is the largest industrial IT research organization in the world. The Zurich laboratory was established in 1956 and is home to world-class scientists representing more than 30 nationalities. Cutting-edge research and outstanding scientific achievements—most remarkably two Nobel Prizes—are associated with this lab. The spectrum of research activities range from exploratory research in nanoscience and –technology for future chips, to advanced server and storage technologies, to high-performance computing, to software and services in areas such as security and privacy, risk and compliance, analytics and information management, or business optimization. www.zurich.ibm.com IBM Forum Zurich Research The IBM Forum Zurich Research (ISL) is the unique place in Europe to pick the brain of IBM researchers, industry and trend experts, in order to tackle today's and tomorrow's challenges. It is an integral part of the European IBM Forum Center network and is located on the campus of IBM Research – Zurich, home of two Nobel prizes.