AUSTIN, Texas—Nanotechnology and biomedical engineering — two emerging technology areas with high commercialization potential — will be showcased May 2 in a forum for business leaders, academics and others at The University of Texas at Austin’s J.J. Pickle Research Campus.
The Alliance for Commercialization Forum on Nanotechnology and Biomedical Engineering will focus on bringing new inventions to market and will feature top experts from the university and the local business community. Speakers will talk about technology transfer and entrepreneurship, and faculty from the natural sciences and engineering disciplines will give presentations on research projects with market potential.
“We must have alliances and partnerships to commercialize technology,” said Dr. Steve Nichols, associate vice president for research. “The forum is designed to build those alliances.”
Nanotechnology, and the closely related nanoscience, represent major new areas of research and development with the capacity to enrich the lives of people by developing new materials and devices in medicine, electronics, biomedical engineering and biotechnology, to name a few.
“The University of Texas at Austin has started a major initiative in nanoscience and nanotechnology to expand our expertise and research endeavors in these emerging fields,” said Larry R. Faulkner, president of The University of Texas at Austin. “Nanoscience is melding the disciplines of chemistry, biology, physics, materials science and engineering. In the years ahead, it promises to have tremendous value in industry and commerce.”
Pike Powers, managing partner of the Austin office of Fulbright and Jaworski and a leader in developing the technology economy in Austin, will be a speaker at the forum.
“There is tremendous competition among universities and regions of the United States to get nanotech research and industry,” Powers said. “A driving force is research dollars from federal grants. The University of Texas at Austin needs help from the business community to get these federal research grants — to help build nanotech research facilities and recruit and retain faculty.
“The Austin business community, government and academia have successfully come together before with SEMATECH and MCC to win research dollars with the resulting beneficial impact on our region. We can and will do it again.”
The forum is hosted by the Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce and The University of Texas at Austin.
For further information contact: Steve Nichols, (512) 232-4102.
