Commercializing technologies will stand out in this year’s NanoIsrael conference, says Nava Swersky Sofer, NanoIsrasel 2012 conference co-chair. "The conference will be attended by large delegations and experts from around the world, who will come to Israel to experience its vibrant nanotechnology scene. Both  industry and academia, with its six nanotechnology centers at the leading research universities, will feature strongly in the conference."

Israel is renowned for its achievements in innovation and the event will be a good place to meet the top people on the scientific and business fronts from Israel and abroad presenting cutting-edge technologies, leading scientific achievements and unique business opportunities in Nano-materials, Energy, Water & the Environment, Nano-electronics, Nano-photonics, Nano-biotechnology and Nano-medicine.

Approximately 40 start–up companies and dozens of projects nearing commercialization will be presented at NanoIsrasel 2012, the third international nanotechnology conference & exhibition, which will be held on 26th–27th March at Tel Aviv’s David Intercontinental hotel. The field has developed much since the second conference, held in November 2010, and many projects that were then in their initial stages of development have since matured and near commercialization, either through the formation of focused start–up companies or  by licensing the technology to larger companies. "The attractive projects for commercialization and the fact that representatives of companies, who seek to invest in technology, will specially arrive for the conference, indicate that this field is maturing."

The conference is expected to be attended this year by more than 1,000 participants, including company representatives, venture capitalists and investors, investigators and entrepreneurs, all focusing on nano–materials, energy, water and environment, nano–photonics, nano–electronics, nano–bio and nano–medicine. Leading speakers from Israel and abroad will take part in the conference. Also, the Company of the Year and the Innovative Product of the Year award winners will be announced, along with the Young Investigator Award winner, NanoArt competition prize winners and poster prize-winners.

The conference is chaired by Nava Swersky Sofer, an international technology commercialization expert and founding partner of the international technology commercialization forum (Swersky Sofer was formerly President & CEO of Yissum, the technology transfer company of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and a world leader in the field; Managing Partner of venture capital firms in the US and Israel and Vice President of pharmaceutical giant Novartis in Switzerland) , Mr. Rafi Koriat, who is responsible for commercial and academic collaborations at INNI, the Israel National Nanotechnology Initiative, and the chairman of the conference scientific committee – Prof. Reshef Tenne a leading scientist in the field of nano-materials, head of the centre for nanotechnology at the Weizmann Institute of Science and a member of the Israel National Academy of Sciences.

NanoIsrael 2012 is held in cooperation with the Israel National Nanotechnology Initiative (INNI) and the nanotechnology centers at Israeli universities, and is supported by the Ministry of Trade & Industry, the Foreign Ministry, key companies, universities and organizations from Israel and abroad.

"More than a thousand people from 36 countries attended the last conference in November 2010, with more than 200 visitors from around the world, including the 2010 Nobel laureate in Physics, Prof. Andre Geim, Prof. Charles Lieber from Harvard university, large companies – Siemens, Bayer and more. President Shimon Peres, who is credited as one of the fathers of nanotechnology in Israel, gave an inspiring talk. This year we expect some 40 start-up companies, a larger number than last time. The conference will also be attended by delegations of large multi–national companies looking for new technologies and investors Interested in this exciting field. This year we have a special focus on Asia, which is an important emerging power in the nanotechnology. Among others, the conference will be attended by the president of the Chinese National Academy of Sciences, Prof. Chunli Bai. This is a first visit to Israel of a president of the Chinese National Academy. He will head a delegation of over 25 scientists and industry representatives and in addition to participating in the conference, they will also participate in a satellite bi-national event, which will be held on the day after the conference and will specifically be dedicated to issues related to Israel and China in the nano–technology aspects.

Prof. C. N. R. Rao, one of the senior Indian scientists and the chairman of the scientific and technological advisory committee to the Prime Minister of India, will present advances in nano–technology in India. Prof. Sumio Iijima from Japan, who is considered to be one of the fathers of the nano–technology field and discovered the carbon nano–tubes, will be one of the senior speakers in the conference. The Korean nano–technology field leader is also expected to attend the conference. “This is a real opportunity to be exposed, both to scientific level activity and to the national priorities in the countries of these distinguished visitors.”

"In addition to the guests from Asia, Ms. Françoise Roure, the chairperson of OECD working group on nano–technology, will attend the conference. The OECD has specific policy in relation to the nano–technology field. This policy is very important for the OECD member countries, and Israel has long been taking part in this policy. Now, as Israel has full OECD membership, this participation has become more important. The body headed by Ms. Roure is responsible for all standards related to materials and their production processes, and we would like to have our opinion heard. A lecture about the Atomic Layer Deposition, which is one the fundamental methods in the nano–technology field, will be given at the scientific section, by Prof. Thuomo Suntola from Finland, the inventor of this technique. The conference will also feature Mr. Christos Tokamanis, head of the nano–technology and converging nano–sciences unit in the European Commission,who is responsible for the nano–technology section of the seventh research program in which Israel participates and which provides a major source of research funding."

"The defense and aerospace industries, which use nanotechnology-based materials for a variety of applications, including shielding and materials with special properties, have increased representation in the conference. The leading defense contractors such as Plasan, Elbit, the Israel Aerospace Industries and Rafael will also take part in the conference."

In addition to academic projects, the “Golden Nuggets’ session will feature 12 projects, two from each of the six nano–technology centers, which are on the verge of commercialization. These projects have already proceeded beyond the academic level, but still have not become start–up companies.

Demonstrations of Nano-metric Models and Art

An exhibition of models (DEMOS) will take place this year for the first time at NanoIsrael . It will be featured at the Matimop booth -  the Israeli industry centre for research and development, part of the office of the chief scientist in the Ministry of Trade & Industry. Fifteen models of nano–technology-based products will be presented, allowing the attendees to gain practical exposure to the products of nanotechnology research. "We look for ways to convey the message that this is not just high level science but that it has diversified uses in the real world," explains Swersky Sofer. The NanoArt competition will take place again this year.  About 300 scientific research posters will also be presented.

Awards will be given to the Company of the Year, to the Product of the Year and, for the first time, to the Young Scientist. In addition, prizes will be presented to the NanoArt winners and the poster session winners.

"We expect a great turnout, as we have had in previous conferences. At the first conference, we had a ratio of 80:20 between academia and industry and slowly but surely this has is moving towards the applied arena while keeping the scientific aspects at the highest level and the next generation of developed applications," concludes  Swersky Sofer.