1. Introduction
China has realized the importance of nanotechnology for future economic development and is responding to global trends.
In the middle of 1980s, the Chinese Academy ofSciences (CAS) and National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) initiated support on the development of SPM and other scientific issues at the nanometer scale (1987-1995). The Ministry of Science and Technology of China approved the ‘Climbing up' project and supported nanomaterial science for ten successive years from 1990 to 1999. Over 3,000 researchers contribute to the field.
In 1999, the Ministry of Science and Technology started a national key basic research project ‘Nanomaterial and Nanostructure', to continually support the basic research on nanomaterials such as nanotubes.
The National High Technology Plan also establishes a series of projects for nanomaterial applications. The Chinese Physics Society and the Chinese Society of Particuology are societies involved in the dissemination of nanotechnology research. However, compared with those in the developed countries, the funding is clearly too limited. Appreciable differences of overall level still exist between China and other developed countries, especially in the area of nanoscale devices and in industrialization.
The main funding agencies in China for Nanotechnology are the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC), the Ministry of Education (MOE), and the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST). The short -term strategy of China is to integrate nanotechnology with the traditional industries and develop products with competitive quality and performance.
The Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) sponsors relatively large groups, while the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) provides support mainly for individual research projects. Areas of strength are development of nanoprobes and manufacturing processes using nanotubes.
To date, more than 50 universities, 20 institutes of CAS and 300 enterprises have engaged in the research and development of nanoscience and nanotechnology. Several centers for research and development of nanoscience and technology have been established in CAS, Tsinghua University , Peking University , Nanjing University , East China University of Science and Technology, and others. In 2001, Chinese universities granted 465,000 science and engineering degrees, approaching the total for the US .
Among these research centers, CAS pioneered the investigation on nanoscience and technology in China . A series of significant research projects were carried out in the late 1980s. The principal fields supported by CAS are as follows: bond-selective chemistry under the control of laser and the manipulation of single atoms with scanning tunneling microscopy (STM); molecular electronics research on molecular materials and molecular devices; giant-magneto resistance materials and related physics; photo catalytical and photoelectronic chemistry study of anosemiconductor; SPM studies on surface and interface as well as macromolecules; study on carbon nanotubes and other nanomaterials; study on the structure and physical properties of artificial “super-atom”, and others. In addition, CAS is also undertaking a number of national key projects.
In the year 2000, CAS organized 11 institutes of CAS to take joint efforts in a major research project of “Nanoscience and Nanotechnology”, which was sponsored by the Knowledge Innovation Program, with an investment of more than three million US dollars. The main target of this project is as follows: to improve or to invent new synthetic methods and techniques for nanostructures, to produce new nanomaterials and nanodevices with important significance.
China has planned to spend USD250-300 million within the current five-year plan (2001-2005). More aggressive initiatives are about to launch. The National Center for NanoScience and Technology of China (NCNST) is currently being built near the Peking University , Tsinghua University , and the Chinese Academia of Sciences (CAS) and is expected to finish in 2 years. The government has allocated USD33 million for building this National Research Center .
(1) Nanoscience and Nanotechnology in China (Li-Jun Wan, Chun-Li Bai) ( Download word file )
(2) Funding and Networks for Nanotechnology in China (Si-Shen Xie) ( Download pdf file )
2. National Center for Nanoscience and Technology of China (NCNST)
The National Center for Nanoscience and Technology of China (NCNST, http://www.nanoctr.cn/ ) is a newly established non-profit legal research entity and a state-run technological platform and research center for
nanoscience and technology equipped with advanced facilities in nano-fabrication and characterization. Located in the Zhongguancun Science Park , Beijing , it was first established jointly by the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Peking University , Tsinghua University and will be open to the scientific community of China .
NCNST adopts the director responsibility system under the leadership of the governing board, which is responsible for determining discipline orientations and key research areas for the Center. The research direction will focus on four main disciplines of nanotechnology: nano-devices and nano-fabrication; nano-structures and nano-materials; nano-biotechnology and nano-medicine; characterization and measurement of nano-structures. The orientation of NCNST will be the basic and applied researches of nanoscience, with its significant application prospects.
3. China International Conference on Nanoscience and Technology
It is noteworthy that the drive of nanoscale science and technology in China and outside China began at almost the same starting line.
Tens of nation-wide conferences have been held in China since 1990 covering a wide range of topics in the related fields. In Beijing , CAS sponsored the 7th International Conference on Scanning Tunneling Microscopy (STM'93) and the 4th International Conference on Nanoscale Science and Technology (Nano IV). The joint seminars of Sino-Japan (April), Sino-US (May), Sino-German (September) have been successfully organized in Beijing . The 1 st joint seminar of Sino-Korea (November), and the 2 nd 2004 Asian Conference on Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (November) also will be held in Beijing . These conferences have severed academic exchanges and collaborations both nationally and internationally.
We would like to concentrate our resources to hold an international conference on Nanotechnology. The ChinaNANO 2005 ( http://www.chinanano2005.org/ ) is the world's premier conference of leading scientists in the highly active fields of theory, design and implementation of nanoscience and technology. The conference will focus on nanomaterials and nanostructures, nanodevices and nanofabrications, nanobiotechnology, and nanoscale modeling and computation, nanoscale characterization and measurement technology, novel applications of nanotechnology.
The China Nano international conference will be held as a series conference in China with the support of Ministry of Science and Technology of China, Ministry of Education of China , National Natural Science Foundation of China, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chinese Academy of Engineering, China Association for Science and Technology , China National Accreditation Board for Laboratories.
