Delegates and speakers, Day 1.
Academia and Industry Meet to Develop Nano Development Strategy for the Future
More than 130 of the world’s leading experts in nanoscience and technology have taken part in the first-of-its-kind, International Symposium on Functional Nanomaterials in Industrial Applications.
Held at the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) and organised in collaboration with leading UK powder and particle processing technology company Hosokawa Micron Ltd the conference has been declared a massive success and a huge leap towards a collaborative strategy for functional nanomaterials that will benefit mankind.
The event, attended by academic researchers and industrial organisations, created a unique platform to share information on the very latest in the research and development of nanomaterials and to discuss opportunities for collaboration to bring new materials to tomorrow’s marketplace.
Whilst evidence of nanoscience is already around us in every-day products, speakers at the two and a half day Symposium spoke of the research at the forefront of nanoscience and its potential for global impact:
- Improvements in targeted delivery of drugs, directly to tumour sites using nanoparticle drug coated stents.
- The green economy of using less of the world’s resources by making finer particles, that create less waste.
- Addition of Nano Silica in tyres to improve tyre durability and enhanced traction in the wet.
- Nanotechnology for the removal of harmful organics and heavy metals to purify water.
- Depletion of the world’s resources and new nanoscience options for the recovery from waste of increasingly precious metals such as lithium for use in batteries – to run the new generation of electric cars.
- Opportunities for student research and technology enabling, developmental funding and collaboration projects.
Lively open forum discussions ranged from issues relating to IP ownership, shared access to academic infrastructure, student education and skills requirements to opportunities to make money by creating high demand products and for future collaborations for the development of new materials.
Unanimously positive feedback from the event requested a follow up symposium. The Chair of the event, Dr Tapas Sen, Reader in Nanomaterials Chemistry, in collaboration with Hosokawa Micron Ltd. is already making plans for the next academic-industry meet in 2017.
Prof Mauro Magnani, University of Urbino, Italy said, ‘I would like to congratulate you and your colleagues for the excellent symposium and the perfect climate for discussion and collaborations’.
Mr. Iain Crosley, MD, Hosokawa Micron Ltd, added, ‘We were pleased to be involved in such a well organised event and have the name Hosokawa Micron associated with it. The discussions that took place throughout the event gave us a great understanding of the current areas of interest and the challenges the researchers are facing’.