India cannot afford to miss the nanoscience bus: scientist

The fourth edition of Bangalore Nano will kick off on December 8 with the focus being, 'Nanoscience and technology at cutting edge'. The fourth edition of Bangalore Nano will kick

off on December 8 with the focus being, “Nanoscience and technology at cutting edge”. The two-day event, to be held at Lalit Ashok hotel in the city, will have some of the biggest names in

nano-technology across the world engaged in discussions and presentations about the future of the technology. The event is an initiative by the state government’s department of science and

technology under the guidance of Vision Group on nano-technology and about 220 delegates, including 60 speakers, are expected to participate. At a press conference on Friday, chairman of

scientific advisory council, Prof CNR Rao, hailed the event as one-of-its-kind in the country. “The other forums of nano-technology focus mainly on the science behind it, but this event

brings in the industry as well,” he said. The scientist said, “India cannot afford to miss the nano-technology bus, as in the next 15 years, this industry will be doing business in

trillions”. Rao said that there are already products in the chemical and cosmetic industry that use this technology. “But it is going be big in the health industry. It will be used in

procedures like tissue engineering,” he added. The professor also lamented India’s lack of progress in producing quality research and warned against the increasingly large role played by

China in this aspect. “Twenty years ago, India contributed to about 2% of the all scientific publications and China was at 1%. Now, India stands at 2.5% and China at 14%. Last year, China

produced 16,000-18,000 doctorate holders and India produced 7,500. We can’t compete against their quantities, but we should compete for quality,” he said. Tutorials for students While the

event will take place on December 8 and 9, the event will be preceded by ‘pre conference tutorials’ on December 7. The tutorials will provide post graduate and research students an in-depth

analysis of nano technology. The organisers have also announced the institution of a new award called the India Nanotech Innovation Award, which will recognise innovation that is likely to

revolutionise the sector.