From 29 to 31 January, Tuscany will be present at the exhibition Nano Tech 2014 in Tokyo. With the aim to attract investments, the desk “Invest in Tuscany” will be hosting representatives of the sector, such as the delegates from the Innovation Centre “NANOXM” specialised in nanotechnologies and “OPTOSCANA” specialised in optoelectronics and space, together with the Tuscan Cluster “Scienze della Vita” and “Istituto Lens” (European Laboratory of non-linear Spectroscopies).
Tuscany will be protagonist of a contribution on nanotechnologies at the Italian Country Seminar, during which the Regional Nanotech Cluster and the most important ongoing projects will be presented. Besides being present at the exhibition, the Tuscan delegates will be participating in a series of specific meetings in the area near Tokyo, Osaka, at the Biomedical Cluster of Kobe, as well as at the Nims (Japanese Materials Research Centre) of Tsukuba, with the aim to encourage relationships between the Tuscan Innovation Centres and the industrial and research counterparts operating in the high technology sectors, such as photonics, biomedical, biotech and nanotechnologies, which result to be among the most dynamic sectors in terms of direct foreign investments.
Nearly every technological sector is pervaded by nanotechnologies which thus represent a strategic sector with an enormous potential of economic development. For this reason, nanotechnology is considered one of the 5 key technologies for European development and innovation in the next 10 years, as highlighted by the European Agenda 2020. In 2009, the impact of the international nanotechnology market was estimated to be above 250 billion dollars. For the upcoming years, the estimates envisage a 25% annual increase with a value comprised between 1 and 3 trillion dollars in 2015.
In these last years, Tuscany has proven to be strongly oriented towards a development in the nanotechnology sector. In particular, the Tuscan chain of nanotechnologies appears to be strongly oriented towards potentiating the outcomes of the results obtained within the research centres through the creation of spinoff enterprises connected directly to the academic scientific activity, as well as through several big enterprises interested in investing in the implementation of nanotechnologies within their own sectors of reference.
NANOXM is the Regional Innovation Centre for Nanotechnologies which launched its activity in July 2011 thanks to the initiative of a partnership among 3 enterprise service centres and 4 research centres (which today represent its Managing Body), and the joining of 50 Tuscan enterprises that supported the initiative from the very outset of the presentation of the project. NANOXM’s aim is to stimulate research and innovative production through the use of common services and scientific tools, the exchange of knowledge, competences and experiences, as well as to contribute effectively in technological transfer and networking and in spreading information among enterprises.