| NanoNed at NanoTech 2009 |
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The NanoNed Japan Office has coordinated the visit of a large NanoNed delegation to the 8th edition of the International Nanotechnology Exhibition & Conference, NanoTech 2009 (Tokyo, 18-20 February 2009). It has thereby received great support from the Netherlands Office of Science and Technology of the Netherlands Embassy in Tokyo. In total 606 companies and organisations, coming from 21 countries, participated in NanoTech 2009, the world’s largest nanotechnology conference with 47.000 visitors. This year’s conference theme was ‘Green nanotechnology – towards the next innovation’. The delegation, consisting of 13 people, included NanoNed Chairman David Reinhoudt, Wilfred van der Wiel (‘Chef de Mission’), representatives of STW, FOM, MESA+, Biomade, and nano companies Medimate, Solmates and SmartTip. The mission took off with a very pleasant reception and network event at the Royal Netherlands Embassy in Tokyo on February 17th, hosted by Gerard Michels, Head of the Economic department. It was attended by many representatives of leading Japanese institutions and companies, such as NEC, NTT, The University of Tokyo, AIST, RIKEN, Teijin, DSM Japan, and the National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS). The colourful NanoNed pavilion at nano tech 2009 attracted considerable attention, and hosted numerous scheduled meetings and bilateral seminars with Japanese nanotechnology counterparts, a.o. Nagoya University, NEC, Kyushu University, NIMS, RIKEN and AIST. Right at the beginning of nano tech 2009, David Reinhoudt and Wilfred van der Wiel gave a joint 45 min. presentation on the activities of NanoNed and the NanoNed Japan Office. In the week following nano tech 2009, on-site meetings were held with Tokyo University (Dept. of Engineering), NTT Basic Research Labs. and the Tokyo Institute of Technology. The direct objective of these meetings was to strengthen, to elaborate and to formalize fruitful relations with these leading institutions. Both the scientific and business delegation members look back at a very inspiring and productive visit. Many concrete initiatives will be worked out in the coming months, including the organization of a joint symposium, formalization of collaboration and actual exchange of people. This nicely fits in the combined ‘top-down’ - ‘bottom-up’ approach which the NJO likes to follow in bringing the Japanese and Dutch nano worlds together. NanoNed wishes to thank the visited institutions for their great hospitality and enthusiasm, and the Netherlands Office of Science and Technology of the Netherlands Embassy, in particular Mr. Kikuo Hayakawa, for their great help in making this mission a success. |