Building for a nano future

POLICY NEWS

DuPont looks to Indian expertise PARTNERSHIPS DuPont and the National Chemical Laboratory (NCL) in Pune, India – a research, development, and consulting organization – have signed an agreement that will allow DuPont access to the laboratory’s R&D expertise in growing new market-facing technologies. The first projects will see NCL work for the DuPont Titanium Technologies business. “We are pleased to announce the signing of this agreement,” says Thomas H. Connelly, DuPont’s chief science and technology officer. “This move is consistent with DuPont’s efforts to go where the growth is and to globalize our R&D operations.” Connelly hopes that incorporating the talents of some of India’s top materials scientists will further DuPont’s goal of opening up its innovation efforts. DuPont has also announced an additional $25 million in continued funding of the DuPont MIT Alliance (DMA). The joint program with Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is focused on creating innovative, next-generation materials. The DMA was originally instigated in

Building for a nano future NEW FACILITIES

Two of the five Nanoscale Science Research Centers being built by the US Department of Energy (DOE), have held ceremonies to celebrate Artist’s impression of the Center for Nanoscale Materials. significant stages (Courtesy of Argonne National Laboratory.) in their construction. The user facilities, located at national laboratories, are intended to provide the scientific community with access to world-class resources for interdisciplinary research at the nanoscale. A cornerstone-laying ceremony was held at the Center for Nanoscale Materials at Argonne National Laboratory that, once complete, will develop methods to control and tailor the properties of novel nanoscale materials. The 8000 m2 building will house research instruments, laboratories, cleanrooms, and work space, including a hard X-ray microscopy beamline with a spatial resolution of 30 nm and an electron-beam lithography facility. The State of Illinois is providing $36 million for the building’s construction, while $36 million from the DOE is for advanced instrumentation. Brookhaven National Laboratory has held a site-dedication ceremony for its Center for Functional Nanomaterials (CFN), which will provide state-of-the-art facilities to fabricate and study nanomaterials. Construction of the CFN is expected to start this year, with research due to begin in 2007. The project is projected to cost $81 million and attract 300 researchers from the north-east of the USA. Jonathan Wood

2000 with a five-year, $35 million investment. The new funding will see the alliance through to 2010. DuPont initially asked for proposals from the MIT community to extend the

Share offering raises $36 million TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER

technologies.

Imperial College London has raised over $36 million through a private placement of shares in Imperial Innovations, the university’s technology transfer company. This is the first such sale by a UK university. Imperial retains a 71% stake in the company, which has an exclusive 15-year deal to commercialize technology originating from the university’s research activity. Imperial College will use $18 million to support its strategy of building freely disposable capital for its academic mission. Imperial Innovations will invest the other $18 million back in the spin-out companies it helps to generate. Imperial Innovations has generated revenues of $55 million and >1000 jobs from spin-outs and licences since 1997. Recent examples include Ceres Power, a fuel cell technology company, and HydroVenturi, which is developing a method to generate power from tidal currents.

Jonathan Wood

Jonathan Wood

company’s reach in biology, genetics, bioinformatics, and catalysis. It brought DuPont and MIT together in the development of new high-value materials and processes for bioelectronics, biosensors, and biomimetic materials, for example. Now the collaboration is expected to extend beyond bio-based science to include nanocomposites, nanoelectronics, and alternative energy

Banking on quantum cryptography TECHNOLOGY In a sign that quantum cryptography is moving out of the lab and into the marketplace, four companies recently demonstrated systems for secure transmission of data to banks in London’s financial district, the City. Toshiba Research Europe, id Quantique, MagiQ Technologies, and QinetiQ all took part in events at the Bank of England and the UK Department of Trade and Industry organized by the lobbying group, Quantum Information Partners. The aim was to prove the viability of the technology to the City. Currently, digital keys for encoding transactions are distributed by the public key infrastructure (PKI). Should a quantum computer ever be capable of factoring the large numbers upon which PKI is based, every message will instantly be insecure. However, quantum keys encoded in single photons can be optically transmitted between two people with the originator knowing if the message has been sent and received securely. Jonathan Wood

Donation for quantum research NEW FACILITIES The University of Waterloo in Canada is to receive a donation of $13.6 million from Ophelia and Mike Lazaridis. The gift will help fund a new facility for the Institute for Quantum Computing and Nanotechnology Engineering Program and provide scholarships for the best foreign graduate students. Mike Lazaridis is chancellor of the university, as well as founder, president, and co-chief executive officer of Research in Motion. Jonathan Wood

July/August 2005

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