Ohio Governor Bob Taft opened NANO Week here today, telling attendees of the Cleveland Clinic NanoMedicine Summit that Ohio is committed to being a leader in nanotechnology research and commercialization.
The NanoMedicine Summit, which continues through October 26, attracted a sell-out crowd of 300 nanotechnology experts, biomedical researchers and leading medical practitioners in the fields of cardiology, neurology, oncology and orthopedics. The summit is addressing how nanotechnology can help address unmet clinical needs. The summit is being presented in collaboration with Case Western Reserve University, Cornell University (Ithaca, N.Y.), the Nano- Network, a consortium of Northeast Ohio-based scientists, entrepreneurs and supporting agencies that share an interest in nanotechnology, and the Maple Fund, a financier of early stage nanotechnology companies.
"The field of nanotechnology is in its infancy, but we are learning more every hour and Ohio wants to be at the forefront," Gov. Taft told summit attendees. "The NanoMedicine Summit is a great forum for scientific and business innovators to come together to share knowledge, build partnerships and create new generations of technologies and products."
Nanotechnology involves the manipulation and control of materials as small as one-billionth of a meter to develop new, or enhance existing, products and applications.
"By bringing together scientists and doctors, the NanoMedicine Summit is fostering a new wave of collaboration that is needed if nanotechnology is to be deployed to meet clinical needs," said Mark Brandt, co-founder of both the Maple Fund and the Nano-Network, which organized the week's events. "The next step will be to attract federal dollars to fund the research generated by those collaborations. Then venture capitalists will follow by investing in the products that are spun out of that research. Cleveland is demonstrating it will be at the center of that process."
The other NANO Week events are:
The National Cancer Institute's Nanotech Symposium Series - Oct. 27-28: The CASE Comprehensive Cancer Center is organizing this national conference featuring presentations from leading scientists in nanotechnology and cancer research. In bringing the developers of nanotechnology together with the scientific community, NCI hopes to focus on nanotechnology's potential to advance the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of cancer. For more information, visit http://www.capconcorp.com/nci .
Nanoparticles - Synthesis, Functionalization and Applications for Targeted Drug Delivery - Oct. 27-28: The Center for Business Intelligence designed this conference to bring together researchers and companies involved in the development of next-generation pharmaceuticals that rely on nanotechnology to improve their delivery and effectiveness. Topics to be discussed include reformulating drugs using nanotechnology, commercialization strategies, and regulatory and legal guidelines. More information is available at the CBI's Web site: http://www.cbinet.com .
The International Nanotechnology Business Idea Competition - Oct. 28-29: A panel of judges, including venture capitalists, nanotechnology researchers and entrepreneurs will select the top business ideas that can best meet a real need and be commercialized in this global competition. To purchase tickets for the October 28th contestants' reception or the October 29th winners' reception or to receive more information contact Colette Taylor at 216-592-2323, or ctaylor@gcpartnership.com.
