Symposium AAA: The Business of Nanotechnology IV

2012 MRS Fall Meeting

The Business of Nanotechnology IV

Research abounds in nanotechnology and materials science, and the number of applications also continues to grow. An equal, if not greater, emphasis is now being placed on commercialization of this research. The promise held by the laboratory results must now be delivered in the form of reliable, low-cost, and manufacturable products in a competitive business ecosystem.

This symposium fills the gap between fundamental research in material science and industrialization or commercialization of laboratory prototypes. Also, this symposium aims to address the intersections of scientific research and business considerations in the nanotechnology space. In particular, it will target issues pertaining to market considerations, design innovation, usability, manufacturability, reliability, and intellectual property.

The success of "The Business of Nanotechnology" symposium series at the MRS meetings since 2008 confirms the growing interest of materials scientists, entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, and patent attorneys in contributing to the future sustainable economic growth of this sector.

The highlight of this symposium will be the popular “forum for entrepreneurs” organized as a roundtable where venture capitalists, lawyers, CEOs, patent attorneys, and bankers gather to offer their time and advice to potential founder candidates of startup companies. A poster session intended for entrepreneurs to showcase concepts and products of their startup company is anticipated.

Abstracts are solicited from scientists, technologists, business professionals, startup founders, venture capitalists, patent experts, incubator managers, and others who can showcase various aspects of emerging research trends and road maps, and elaborate on the process of taking research in both nanotechnology and materials science and bringing it to market.

Session topics will include:

  • Synthetic nanoparticles in therapeutics and vaccines
  • Instruments and equipment for nanotechnology and nanocharacterization
  • Nanomaterials-based technologies for clean energy (e.g., solar cells, fuel cells, and nanostructured electrodes for batteries)
  • Pollution abatement (e.g., air purification and nanopatterned filters for water cleaning)
  • Technologies and applications in electronics, photonic sensors, etc. (e.g., nanostructured layers for next-generation CMOS chips)
  • Nanostructured materials for structural applications
  • Nanomaterials-based devices and sensors for biological, medical, and environmental applications
  • Nanotechnology-based products for the sensory-impaired population
  • Nanotechnology for information and computing
  • Nanotechnology-aided countermeasures for security of citizens
  • Health and safety concerns and risks from use or adoption of nanotechnology
  • Standardization for commercialization of nanotechnology

A tutorial addressing strategies to write successful business plans for venture capitalists and proposals for agencies funding startup companies in materials science is tentatively planned. Further information will be included in the MRS Program that will be available online in September.

Invited Speakers Include:

James H. Adair (Pennsylvania State Univ.), Orlando Auciello (Argonne National Lab), Marie-Isabelle Baraton (Univ. of Limoges, France), John Carlisle (ADT, Inc.), Tao Deng (GE Global Research), Lian Gao (Shanghai Jiaotong Univ., China), Kenneth Gonsalves (Univ. of North Carolina, Charlotte), Mark C. Hersam (Northwestern Univ.), Padmakumar Nair (Univ. of Texas, Dallas), C. Scott Nordahl (Raytheon Corp.), Mimi Panagiotou (Microfluidics), Carlos A. Paz de Araújo (Symetrix Corp.), Leslie J. Pinnell (A123 Systems, Inc.), John Rogers (Univ. of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign), Grace Wang (National Science Foundation).

Symposium Organizers

Lhadi Merhari
CERAMEC R&D
64 ave. de la Libération, F-87000 Limoges, France
Tel 33-683-710-550, Fax 33-555-778-100
ceramec@wanadoo.fr  

David Cruikshank
ARCH Venture Partners
Ste. 290, 8725 W. Higgins Rd., Chicago, IL 60631
Tel 773-380-6600, Fax 773-380-6606
dcruikshank@archventure.com  

Jun Wang
A123 Systems, Inc.
200 West St., Waltham, MA 02451
Tel 781-906-0630, Fax 617-924-8910
jwang8@townisp.com  

Katherine Derbyshire
Thin Film Manufacturing
P. O. Box 82441, Kenmore, WA 98028
Tel 425-402-1608
kderbyshire@thinfilmmfg.com  
 

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