COMS2009: Initiatives & Issues in Nano Education

Kristin:  The very last session at COMS2009 is on the theme of education. There are some common global issues. Firstly there will be an anticipated shortage of scientists and engineers. Second, there are conflicting views on how to develop nanotechnologists.

1. Nanotechnology should be taught at all levels

Assoc Prof Aldrin Sweeney from the University of Central Florida and Editor of the Journal of Nano Education discussed some of the issues in nanoscale science and engineering education. One of the issues emerging is whether nantechnology can be taught at all levels. In 2003, Mihail Rocco said there was a need for education and training in nanoscience concepts to be introduced at all levels of education. And in Technology Foresight on Danish Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, The Steering Group recommended that nanotechnology should be taught in both primary school and secondary schools:

‘Compared with technical and scientific subjects in general, nanotechnology appeals strongly to young people. Early teaching of nanotechnology may thereby have the beneficial side effect of increasing the general interest in – and applications to study for – technical and scientific qualifications.’

2. Therefore, what fundamental concepts and competencies are needed within a nanotechnology curriculum?

There seems to be three cores areas required, at least at the tertiary level. First is the need to have a good understanding of physics, biology and chemistry, and to be able to understand the interdisciplinary nature of these sciences in nanotechnology. Second, studetns should learn some basic skills around instrumentation, microscopy and nanofabrication. Third, students should be aware of the political and cutural contexts of nanotechnology and associated research. Here, perhaps it is also important to impart skills in and what about the role of commercialisation – especially if you belive that researchers have an obligation to extedn there research into the marketplace.

3. Specialisation or generalisation?

Yes, that old chestnut. Do you teach basic courses in physics, chemistry and/or biology and then introduce interdisciplinarity (the T-model), or do you teach the inverted T – which introduces nanoscience as an interdisciplinary knowledge base and then focus on specialisations within this?

• Larrs Montelius from Oresund University (a collaborative association of Universities in Sweden and Denmark) presented on Nano Connect Scandinavia. Here there is acknowledgment that both a broad understanding and in-depth knowledge.  He showed a range of approaches within Scandinavian universities.
• Nadine Hoser from Bamberg University and a Fulbright Scholar in California is looking at how people transition from education to the labour market. Interestingly, she  showed that most employers would be prefer a science degree in a specific discipline followed by nanotechnology specialisation , rather than a first degree in nanotechnology. Her project will be looking at how nanoscientists and nanotechnologists define themselves (and the effect of the market and professional associations), as well as how nano breakthroughs have been diffusing into the labour market.

4. What are some ways that nanotechnology can be presented in education?

Finally, how can the needs at the tertiary level be translated for secondary schools?

• Gabriel Ramirez presented Class on a Chip, a MEMS Education chip (6.2 mm by 2.8 mm) containing 20-30 devices per chip. Helping to identify what these micro-electric systems components do and how they work. The chip can be connected through a driver board to a PC with a haptic controller which allows the students to play and touch and feel. Laboratory manuals currently in development with high school and college teachers to allow ensure students can get the most out of the device (Clive wants one).
• Francesca Calati from La Trobe University presented on AccessNano as a way of introducing nanotechnology in Australian schools. Francesca showed simple (and cost-effective) ways that this resource allows teachers to show how properties change at the nanoscale. And how provocative ideas can engage students in science.

Filed under: AccessNano, Innovation, Learning, Nanotechnology, Science, conference , coms, information, mancef-coms, nanotech, science education

COMS2009: Funding Micro/Nano Start-Ups

Kristin: VCs are in chaos. They are not making new investments, they are downsizing personnel, and when it comes to making a deal, they don’t want to go it alone. Additionally, limited partner investors are upset with the poor performance of VCs, they have concerns about high fee structures and want liquidity.

So how might you fund a start-up in an economic crisis? Robert Mehalso provided some advice in a plenary session at COMS2009.

Bob’s advice on dealing with VCs? Well, VCs consume an incredible amount of time in due diligence – they ask thousands of question to find reasons not to invest. Working with VCs is expensive – they require IP reviews, legal/contractual documents, due diligence payments, and annual fees for attending board meetings. And your company pays. VCs want control even for a minority position. And the due diligence process can create apprehension with customers and suppliers. They tend to stick to your original forecasts and often bring little in terms of relationships, customers or future round funding. Additionally, the VC business model is broken – more than half the VC funds will disappear over the next two years. Use VC as a last resort!

So how to prepare for funding?

• Obtain advice from a commercialisation expert on the maturity of the technology
• Focus research to address commercialisation challenges
• Obtain government funding
• Develop industrial interest and funding
• Engage a corporate partner
• Use personal, family and friends’ funds
• Focus on specific markets
• Minimise funds usage by conducting research at university as long as possible, using the research institutions’ facilities and equipment, and engage subject-matter experts to get things done faster.

To maximum opportunities for funding, it’s important to remove technical and market risk and be able to demonstrate manufacturing (eg through pilot). Companies should try to engage government funds for prototyping and pilot plans and engage corporate partners. Wherever possible show he company has revenue. Bob suggests that external funding is possible, but it’s difficult, time consuming and the conditions are onerous.

Is there any upside?

Filed under: Innovation, Leadership, Manufacturing, Nanotechnology, Opportunities, People, conference , commercialisation, coms, Innovation, mancef, mancef-coms

COMS2009: How to make things work

Kristin: The recurring theme of the conference is the challenges and solutions for making things work – essentially how do you get micro and nano technologies to market through effective applications serving a market need.

Dirk Ortloff from Process Relations (edit: Note the company is Process Relations) presented on the process development challenges in difficult economic times. Everything is complex – new processes, often many changes to specifications, lots of data, plus time to market is shortened and budgets are tight. Plus there are more regulatory requirements. And importantly, how can you move away from the grind and onto creative work? Dirk suggests four steps to improved development efficiency that can be enabled through specific software tools: to fully utilise knowledge, to learn in different ways (eg virtual prototyping), to gain more information and knowledge through experimentation and to effectively transfer knowledge into production at volume. Don’t just gather information – free your time to be thoughtful and creative to get a better process and/or product.

JB Tuttle is doing his MBA at the University of New Mexico. As part of the entrepreneurial program, JB developed a business plan which expanded and won some business awards. The product he’s working on is the ‘MicroHound’ – a handheld vapour trace detection system for cargo screening, ports fo entry and border security applications. Out of the market research, they found that the Science & Technology Directorate has an gate of entry type role for security devices, but the market need is there. The MicroHound is enabled through 12 patents developed by Sandia National Laboratories. So he’s got a product at the right level of technology development, but how to you get it to market? And how do you get across the ‘valley of death’. One solution is be flexible enough to alter products for targeted market research – not just asking people what they want, but also testing it with them (even if it means taking your technology development back one stage). JB is now working n the next stage of the commercialisation process.

Some good insights here for the way approach the technology transfer process with CleanFutures.

Filed under: Innovation, conference , coms, Innovation, mancef, mancef-coms

COMS2009: Nano Business & Fairy Godmothers

Kristin: The final session I attended today was on business models, road-mapping and entrepreneurship. I arrived late as I was presenting at the same time, but I caught the end of Christian Vogerer presenting the results of the 2009 nano-manufacturing survey in Austria.

A similar presentation was then given by Markus Dickerhof from MINAN (the European Technology Platform for Micro- and NanoManufacturing), who revealed the outcomes of the 2008/2009 Roadmapping survey for micro and nano production in Europe. In this study, they asked for input on both ‘Application Pull’ and ‘Technology Push’ approaches, aiming to link applications with technological capabilities. They were successful in attracting 232 respondents from 28 countries. The full report will be available from the MINAN website in October. One question looked at the various technology categories including assembly processes, microtechnologies and nanotechnologies. In nanotechnology, nano-surfaces were the most commonly mentioned technology seen as important for the future.

This is interesting as it matches the findings of Manufacturing: the Advanced Manufacturing R&D Capability study we submitted for South Australia earlier this year. The outcome from that report was seeding industry activities around two capabilities – coatings and composite materials.

Prof Erol Harvey from Minifab gave a beautifully titled talk called ‘Frogs and Princesses: Courtship between industry and academia’. I would love to tell you more about it, but Erol’s talk was so entertaining, that I could not take notes. Nevertheless, it was all about the fairytale (ie the myth) of commercialisation – the magic interface of ‘innovation’ that creates rivers of gold. But he did provide a good dose of reality and showed how MiniFab helps companies through the product development phase and into market adoption – Thanks Erol!!

Filed under: Innovation, Nanotechnology, conference , coms, Innovation, mancef, mancef-coms, nanotech

COMS2009: Sensor Technologies

Kristin: A range of sensor technologies are enabled through micro and nanotechnologies. It is interesting that sensors can take so many forms: mechanical, chemical, biological – and that of course, they employ combinations of these as well.

• Anja Boisen from DTU spoke about the potential of cantilver sensors. At DTU, they are looking at making new types of mechanical sensors and applying this to the detection of explosives, detection of gas (eg nerve gas), water quality (eg pesticides) and food quality (eg colour change detection on release of gases or vapours). Instead of optical methods they are refining a  piezoresitive readout which allows for work with non-transparent liquids. The challenge is the sensitivity, but Anja suggested that doping of the resistor can help with this.
• Christophe Vannahme from the University of Karlsruhe spoke about microfluidic lab-on-chip sensors using PMMA (a transparent, thermoplastic polymer which is often used an alternative to glass) and integrated organic lasers that supply high efficiency. The sensing schemes are based on transmission change and fluorescence.
• Luis Moreno-Hagelsieb from DICE at UCL, is developing an electrical biosensor able to measure changes in humidity – at levels sensitive to human breathing. The device therefore has useful health monitoring applications in both conditions like sleep apnea, but also in sports (eg measuring breathing rhythm against speed in running).

The talks so far have demonstrated the challenges in obtaining highly sensitive and reproducible measurement. And they’ve also demonstrated the useful outputs of such sensors for making decisions around health, environmental and other applications.

Filed under: Innovation, Nanotechnology, conference , coms, mancef, mancef-coms, nanotech, sensors