Australian Nanotechnology Showcased at NSTI Nanotech Conference

Australian nanotech successes including the bionic ear, water treatment solutions, drug delivery treatments, rapid medical diagnostics, fuel cells, and thermally active granules-cleaning paints will be on show at the Australia Pavilion (Booth # 301) at the NSTI Nanotech Conference and Trade Show 2007.

Invest Australia's Senior Investment Commissioner for North America, Fred Welz advised innovative US companies looking for the next "small thing" to investigate Australian opportunities in this sector.

"Australia has a proven track record of integrating nanotech into technology success stories," said Welz.

"About 90 research groups around Australia are working on nanotech, and there are at least 65 nanotech companies - 30 of which have emerged over the past 5 years."

"US investors and technology partners regularly visit Australian R&D centres and their spin-off companies looking for commercial applications. NSTI Nanotech is an ideal opportunity to see some of the best innovators from Australia, here in the Valley."

Some of the 12 organizations attending the conference from Down Under include:

TAG Technology

• TAG Technology is specialising in creating environmentally friendly solutions for problems caused by heat.
• The company is licensing a unique nanotechnology that when incorporated into coatings, textiles and films, allows these polymeric materials to block the flow of heat passing through them from one direction only. In doing so, it works to keep the temperature of any product coated with a thermally active granules (TAG®) coating as constant as possible regardless of shifts in the ambient temperature.

CSIRO

• The Commonwealth Science and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) is Australia's largest national research organisation and is one of the world's largest and most diverse research organisations.
• It has formidable nanotechnology capabilities covering a range of sectors and applications from materials and manufacturing, food and agriculture to energy and the environment.
• CSIRO experts, Prof Calum Drummond - Chief, Industrial Physics, Dr Philip Casey - Functional Interphases and Coatings, Manufacturing and Materials Technology, and Dr Miriam Bultuck - Canberra Deep Space Communication Complex and NASA Operations, Industrial Physics, will be attending NSTI. www.csiro.com

Nanotechnology Victoria

• A collaborative venture between three major universities in the Australian state of Victoria (Monash University, Swinburne University of Technology and RMIT University) and the Australian Government's Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO).
• A$28 million in funding from members and the Victorian Government.

UniQuest, The University of Queensland

• UniQuest Pty Ltd is one of Australia's most highly regarded university technology transfer groups.
• A subsidiary company of The University of Queensland, UniQuest identifies, packages and commercializes the university technologies and expertise. www.uniquest.com.au

ARC Centre of Excellence for Functional Nanomaterials

• The Centre's research programs focus on the novel synthesis, characterisation and application of functional nanomaterials such as nanoparticles, nanotubes, thin films and nanoporous and nanocomposite materials. http://www.arccfn.org.au

Astute Nanotechnology

• Astute has identified clean energy, the environment and health care industries as areas where nanostructured materials will have significant impacts.
• Astute's commercialisation in health care is focused on drug delivery, biomaterials for orthopaedic and cardiovascular applications and tissue repair.

AZoNano

• AZoNano (the A to Z of Nanotechnology) is a comprehensive international online resource with over 6,000 regularly updated pages dedicated to informing and educating engineers, designers, academics and scientists from within the global nanotechnology community, from materials and equipment through to research and new developments. www.azonano.com

School of Applied Sciences, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) University

• The School of Applied Sciences at RMIT is working with the Bluescope Steel Institute at the University of Wollongong and Bluescope Steel Ltd to develop nanoscale modifications of paint surfaces to aid in contamination resistance. www.rmit.edu.au/applied-sciences

Centre for Strategic Nano-Fabrication (CSNF), University of Western Australia

• The CSNF at University of Western Australia is developing novel state-of-the-art nano-technologies at the same time as addressing the key issues in the current community. The Centre is using spinning disc processing (SDP) to fabricate nano-particles. www.strategicnano.uwa.edu.au

Bridge8 Pty Ltd

• Bridge8 Pty Ltd consults a range of organisations on foresight and strategy development, process frameworks and communications. The company is especially interested in change generated by the collision of technology and society in industries such as nanotechnology, agriculture, biomedicine, information technology, the environment, mining, manufacturing and materials. www.bridge8.com.au

For more information during Nanotech 2007 about investing in Australia please contact Investment Director Kelly Sims on 415-624-7310.

www.investaustralia.gov.au