Nano4M presentation article
The Circondario Empolese Valdelsa and the Agenzia per lo Sviluppo are partners in an important European nanotechnology project.
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Empoli, nanotechnology capital
The Circondario Empolese Valdelsa and the Agenzia per lo Sviluppo dell'Empolese Valdelsa are two of the 12 partners involved in a European level project concerning nanotechnology.
Thursday, 4th March, and Friday, 5th, the Hotel da Vinci in Sovigliana hosted an important transnational meeting as part of the project "nano4m - Nanotechnology for Market", which involves 12 partners from four different countries: Spain, Italy, France and Germany. The nano4m project began in October 2008 and will end in September 2011. The project involves teams composed of a research center and/or a technological development agency and an local government entity (municipality, province or region) in one region of each participating country.
The participating European regions (North Rhine-Westphalia in Germany, Lorraine in France and Asturias in Spain) currently include centers of strength at the European level in the field of nanotechnology research. The partners have been involved for some time in other high technology research and development projects, and "Nano4m" is in full continuity with these activities. In particular ASEV has chosen to promote research and technological innovation as a tool to enhance local competitiveness. For this reason, Empoli is currently creating a pole/laboratory at the former hospital in Paladini street. Within this ASEV structure, it will be possible to develop targeted research and development projects that will involve local businesses, academic researchers, and external public companies. There is no doubt ASEV will enable economic development for the entire area and beyond. Participating companies include those that already do research privately (in particular Colorobbia Italia). These companies have expressed their desire to bring all or part of their research inside the technology center.
The partnership
The following partners are involved in the project :
- The main partner is the Instituto de Desarrollo Económico del Principado de Asturias (IDEPA), a body attached to the Regional Ministry of Industry and Development. IDEPA promotes innovation and technology as the basis for productive activities, thereby supporting the regional economic growth.
- The Regional Council of Lorraine is involved in many aspects of life of people in the region, thus contributing to their future. Great attention is being focused on economic development, innovation, education and research, factors which contribute to economic and knowledge development.
- The City of Dortmund has faced big changes due to the decline of the coal and steel industry. To overcome this crisis, in 2000, the City launched a special task force, the Dortmund Project, to implement strategies to strengthen the development of new emerging industries.
- The Technologieförderung Münster GmbH (TFM) promotes innovation and technology and deals with the formation and growth of technology-oriented companies. TFM has the objective of promoting the profile of the city of Münster as a place of knowledge, research and technology.
- The Centro de Investigación en Nanomateriales y Nanotecnología (CINN-CSIC) is a joint initiative between the Spanish Council for Scientific Research (CSIC), the University of Oviedo and the Regional Government of Asturias. CINN operates as an interdisciplinary group of research. It deals with nanomaterials and nanotechnology.
- Prodintec is one of the Technology Centers supported by the Government of the Region of Asturias. It is specialized in innovative technologies for the industrial activity, as well as in the design of products. Prodintec has expertise in advanced technologies. Together with other Bodies, it is part of the European initiative “NANOfutures”.
- UMI GeorgiaTech-CNRS is a partnership based at the Georgia Tech Lorraine campus in Metz, France. It is a joint laboratory between Georgia Institute of Technology, a public university and one of the top five U.S. engineering schools, and the French public research organization Centre Nationale de la Recherche Scientifique. GT-CNRS performs research in innovative materials (including nano-materials) and in information security. Students attending GT-CNRS are at the undergraduate, masters, and Ph.D. level.
- The Institute Jean Lamour (IJL) includes scholars of the three Universities of Lorraine and CNRS. With 450 people, the Institute is organized in scientific departments and centers of expertise. The markets in which it is specialized are: transportation, microelectronics and semiconductor industry, energy and nuclear energy, civil engineering and public works and biomedical.
- The TechnologieZentrumDortmund Management GmbH (TZM) offers services related to infrastructure and training in the field of micro-nanotechnologies. Among other things, the Center is equipped with office space and laboratories. TZM has helped to bridge the gap between science and industry in the field of micro-nanotechnologies.
- CeNTech GmbH was created as one of the first European centers for nanotechnology, to support the commercialization of research based on nanotechnology. The researchers of the companies and of several university faculties of Münster have a total area of 2,400 square meters at their disposal. CeNTech GmbH promotes the formation of companies in the field of nanotechnology.
Objectives
The main objective of the project nano4m is to use a market-based view of technological research and development in order to improve the economic impact of initiatives of local governments and local technological centers. By building on existing local centers of strength, new market opportunities are created; they contribute to increase the competitiveness of companies, which take advantage of these new technologies. Therefore, "Nano4m" is also studying new applications of nanotechnology in the marketplace, and is finding areas of common interest to create collaborations that will continue after the end of the project. This collaboration is interdisciplinary, useful for further development and studies in nanotechnology and for finding new applications, from medicine to computer science, from chemistry to building, and in a variety of green technologies.
At the end of the project, the partners will turn to regional authorities with the aim of improving policies and initiatives relating to this sector.
The project "Nano4m - Nanotechnology for Market" is funded under the EU Interreg IVC programme for a total of 1,400,000 € (one million and four hundred thousand Euros).
