Another nanotechnology hotspot is Ireland, which is hardly surprising given that it has one of the highest per capita spends on nanotechnology in the world. Of course that also makes it a natural location for this years European leg of the World Nano-Economic Congress in April, where Intel, Seagate, Elan, NTera will be rubbing shoulders with the cream of the business world.
NTera have the potential to be a favourite with consumers, threatening to banish the dull, grey LCD world forever and replace it with their NanoChromics technology which would certainly look cool on an iPod. It could also be a an opportunity for Merril Lynchs Steven Milunovich to combine his day job as a technology analyst covering Apple, among others, with his job on the ML Nanotech index.
Ireland is not resting on its laurels, and has just announced a new nanotechnology research centre, the 60 million euro Centre for Research on Adaptive Nanostructures (CRANN), which will with the mission ‘to advance the frontiers of nanosciences where physics, chemistry and biology converge’.