Industry Intelligence
Singular ID closes new round of interim finance with Tigris Capital
09/25/06
Singular ID closes new round of interim finance with Tigris Capital.
Small Times Magazine Announces Best of Small Tech Awards at Leading Nanotech Business Event
Small Times Magazine 09/21/06
LAS VEGAS, Sept. 21 /PRNewswire/ — Small Times(TM) Magazine presented its highly respected Small Tech Awards at its Small Times NanoCon International conference and trade show today in Las Vegas. This is the fifth annual Small Times(TM) Magazine Best of Small Tech Awards, which spotlight the top leaders and the biggest successes in nanotechnology,
MEMS, and microsystems during the past year.
“The award winners and finalists this year truly reflect the diversity of companies and people that are shaping the MEMS and nanotechnology communities — from tools innovators to fabs to companies bringing commercial applications to a wide range of markets,” said Patti Glaza, Vice President and Group Publisher of Small Times(TM).
Best of Small Tech Award: Product
The Small Times(TM) Magazine 2006 Best of Small Tech Product of the Year award goes to an electron microscope that provides critical data for research and development on a highly stable, easy-to-use platform that provides ground-breaking results in nanoresearch: FEI Titan 80-311.
Runners-up are Acrymed’s SilvaGard, Fiberstars’ EFO, Oxonica’s SERS Nanotags, and SiTimes’ SiRes Product Family.
Best of Small Tech Award: Company
CardioMEMS, Inc., captured the 2006 Best of Small Tech Company of the Year award for its new, FDA-approved implantable wireless pressure sensors, which measure pressure changes in the abdominal aorta, promising a relatively inexpensive means of managing patients with congestive heart failure by allowing healthcare providers to adjust patient medication before a crisis occurs.
Runners-up are FEI Company, Micralyne, Nantero, Inc., and SiGNa Chemistry.
Best of Small Tech Award: Business Leader
Chairman, President, and CEO of NeoPhotonics Corporation, Tim Jenks, earned the 2006 Small Times(TM) Magazine Business Leader of the Year award for the successful merger of California-based NeoPhotonics Corp. with Photon Technology, Co. Ltd., in Shenzhen China. The newly merged company has continued to thrive, with $50 million in annual sales, new product launches, European distribution, and additional acquisitions.
Runners-up are Bob Gelfond (MagiQ Technologies), Michael Natan (Oxonica, Inc.), James Rock (Akustica, Inc.), and Billy Stanbery (HelioVolt Corp.).
Best of Small Tech Award: Researcher
IBM Research’s Jia Chen discovered a new way to make carbon nanotubes into light sources much brighter than large area Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs) by injecting them with hot electrons so that they can efficiently produce photons. In addition, the photon-emitting nanotubes have the potential to be produced with the same processes as conventional electronic components. Chen’s breakthrough research in this area earned her the Small Times(TM) Magazine Best of Small Tech Researcher of the Year award in 2006.
Runners-up are Russell Cowburn (Imperial College, London), James Tour (Rice University), Huikai Xie (University of Florida), and Jie Zhang (Motorola).
Best of Small Tech Awards: Innovator
James M. Tour, Rice University, developed the world’s first nanocar, a single-molecular gadget with a chassis, freely rotating axles, and wheels, measuring in total just three to four nanometers across. Tour’s ultimate goal is the development of nanomachines for bottom-up manufacturing, and it is this vision that earned him the Small Times(TM) Magazine 2006 Best of Small Tech Innovator of the Year award.
Runners-up are James Balcom (Polyfuel), Dan Gamota (Motorola), Magnus Gittins (Advance Nanotech), and Pradeep Haldar (University at Albany).
Best of Small Tech Awards: Advocate
Sean Murdock’s tireless work as the face of nanotechnology earned the Executive Director of the NanoBusiness Alliance our Best of Small Tech Advocate award for 2006. His efforts to educate representatives and senators about the importance of developing commercial nanotechnology helped push forward at least two bills promoting nanotech investment.
Runners-up are Roger Grace (Roger Grace Associates), Matthew Laudon (Nano Science and Technology Institute), Ellen McDevitt (MEMS Industry Group), and Robert D. “Skip” Rung (Oregon Nanoscience and Microtechnologies Institute).
Best of Small Tech Awards: Lifetime Achievement
Morinobu Endo, professor of engineering at Shinshu University, captured the 2006 Small Times(TM) Magazine Best of Small Tech Lifetime Achievement award. This award is in recognition of his contributions as an innovator and researcher with carbon nanotubes. He has devoted a lifetime of research in how to manufacture nanotubes more rapidly and cheaply and how to integrate them into useful objects, such as extended-life batteries. Endo has authored or co-authored more than 40 textbooks and 250 papers in peer-reviewed journals such as Nature and Science. He has received a long list of awards and honors, including the 2004 American Carbon Society Medal.
About the Awards
This is the fifth year of the prestigious Small Times(TM) Magazine Best of Small Tech Awards. Small Times staff evaluates the nominees along with seven panels of industry experts. Awards are based on accomplishments between June 1, 2005, and June 1, 2006. More details can be found in the September/October issue or online at http://www.smalltimes.com.
About Small Times
Small Times(TM) Media was purchased in September 2005 by PennWell Corporation, a diversified global media and information company. Small Times(TM) Magazine remains the leading source of business news and analysis about the small tech industry, which includes nanotechnology, MEMS and microsystems. Its circulation is now free to qualified subscribers around the world in both print and digital form. In addition to its news services (Small Times(TM) magazine, SmallTimes.com, Small Times Direct, Small Tech
Advantage), Small Times(TM) organizes the leading nanotechnology business conference and trade show in North America, Small Times(TM) NanoCon International. Our annual Small Tech Business Directory is free to all subscribers and provided online as an industry service at SmallTechDirectory.com. For more information, visit http://www.smalltimes.com.
About PennWell
PennWell Corp. is a diversified business-to-business media and information company that provides quality content and integrated marketing solutions for the following industries: Oil and gas, electric power, water, electronics, nanotechnology, semiconductor, contamination control, optoelectronics, fiber optics, computer graphics, enterprise storage, fire,
emergency services and dental. Founded in 1910, PennWell publishes 75 print and online magazines and newsletters, conducts 60 conferences and exhibitions on six continents, and has an extensive offering of books, maps, web sites, research and database services. In addition to PennWell’s headquarters in Tulsa, Oklahoma the Company has major offices in Nashua, New Hampshire, Houston, Texas, Campbell, California, Fairlawn, New Jersey, London, England, Moscow, Russia, Schwabisch Gmund, Germany, and Hong Kong, China.
Contact
Deborah Rodriguez
Marketing Communications Manager
Small Times Media Group
PennWell Corp.
Tel: 603.891.9482
deborahr@pennwell.com
Nanotechnology Propels Advances in Regenerative Medicine Research
Press Release
09/12/06
The promise of regenerative medicine and the nanotechnology catapulting it into the forefront of chemistry are highlighted in two papers being presented on Monday, Sept. 11, in San Francisco during the American Chemical Society’s 232nd national meeting. The presentations occur on the second day of a three-day symposium, “Advances in Nanomedicine,” Sept. 10-12. Both papers will be presented at the Sir Francis Drake Hotel, Monterey/Cypress Rooms. Nanotubes help adult stem cells morph into neurons in brain-damaged rats – Carbon nanotubes – 80,000 times thinner than a human hair – enhance the ability of adult stem cells to differentiate into healthy neurons in stroke-damaged rat brains, according to American and South Korean researchers. Thomas Webster, Ph.D., of Brown University in Providence, R.I, and colleagues at Yonsei University in Seoul mixed nanotubes with adult rat stem cells and then implanted the mixture into brain-damaged areas of three rats that had suffered strokes. In six other rats that had strokes, they implanted either adult stem cells or nanotubes – but not both – into brain-damaged areas.
Nanotech: Future Friend, Potential Foe
Wanganui Chronicle
09/13/06
Nanotechnology is not new and the technology is getting smaller. Mike Treder from the think tank, Centre for Responsible Nanotechnology in New York, spoke at a seminar in Wanganui on Tuesday night. About 100 people attended the stimulating seminar to hear about the potential applications of the technology, which in the wrong hands could be scary. Mr Treder said nanotechnology was working at molecular level with atoms and molecules. The amount of nano-change could be overwhelming, but importantly, it came down to who will own the technology, he said. The potential benefits could improve standards of living and eliminate poverty through agricultural change and more efficient greenhouses. Energy storage and distribution, and full use of solar energy would be solutions to problems facing the planet. Another major issue facing the planet was impure water. Nanotechnology could help in its purification, Mr Treder said. The technology also had great implications for medicine. Nano devices released into the bloodstream could carry medication and be released at the exact spot in the body where it was needed.
Novel Method for Sorting Carbon Nanotubes Devised
Photonics.com
June 26, 2006
A novel method for sorting semiconducting carbon nanotubes based on their diameter has been developed by scientists who said the long-awaited development could form the basis of a nanotube purification system capable of producing the necessary raw materials for use in nanocircuits, therapeutic agents, next-generation power cables and more. Nanotubes, tiny cylinders of carbon no wider than a strand of DNA, possess an array of properties coveted by materials scientists. Nanotubes are stronger than steel, but weigh one sixth as much. Some varieties are excellent semiconductors, while others are metals that conduct electricity as well as copper.
Computers Set For 500-Fold Magnetic Power Boost
What PC?
June 26, 2006
Nanotech magnetic fields that replace traditional wiring in silicon chips could make computers up to 500 times more powerful, European scientists have claimed. The University of Bath is to lead an international £555,000 three-year project to develop a system which could cut out the need for wiring in processor chips. According to Moore’s Law, computers double in power every 18 months or so as scientists and engineers develop ways to make silicon chips smaller. But in the next few years they will hit a limit imposed by the need to use electric wiring, which weakens signals sent between computer components at high speed. The Bath research project aims produce a way of carrying electric signals without the need for wiring.
Bill Would Create Entity to Commercialize Research
MSNBC
June 26, 2006
The University of Massachusetts is hoping to create a corporate entity that would enable its biomanufacturing and nanomanufacturing centers to be more nimble players in the commercial arena. The proposed entity, part of the economic stimulus bill passed by the Legislature last week, would have the power to strike deals with other companies to produce test batches of biopharmaceuticals or nanomaterials at the Lowell, Dartmouth and Amherst campuses. The Corporation for Advanced Manufacturing in Massachusetts, as it would be called, would be a university subsidiary. The bill, which awaits Gov. Mitt Romney’s signature and potential line-item vetoes, doesn’t spell out the entity’s governing and management structure, but it would probably be run by a mix of academics and private sector representatives.
Is Your Sunscreen Nano?
Earth & Sky
June 26, 2006
Some sunscreens – and other cosmetics – on the market today contain nanoparticles, tiny engineered particles with unusual properties. There are no labeling requirements for nanoparticles, so how do we consumers know if our sunscreen is nano? Earth & Sky asked a dozen nanotech experts. Andrew Maynard’s reply pretty much sums up their responses. He said, “There is no unbiased source of information telling you what cosmetics and sunscreens use nanoparticles.” But here’s one place to check: it’s an online inventory of nanotechnology-based consumer products put together by the Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies. This list relies on manufacturer information — that is, is manufacturers don’t say it’s nano, it’s not included.
Nanosolar’s Shining Ambitions
MSNBC
June 23, 2006
Investors have gotten used to nanotech companies being long on promise but short on products. A recent announcement from Nanosolar, however, shows that at least one company aims to break the mold. I’ve been watching this startup company and the new solar-cell technology it’s developed. Nanosolar hopes to dramatically reduce the cost of solar power by manufacturing solar cells using a semiconductor ink and a deposition process similar to inkjet printing. Now the company plans to invest $100 million in a facility for the high-volume production of solar cells, with an annual production capacity of 450 megawatts. In comparison, SunPower expects its capacity to reach 108 megawatts by the end of this year.
Magnetic Field Research Targets Silicon Chip Breakthrough
HPCwire
June 23, 2006
Magnetic fields created using nanotechnology could make computers up to 500 times more powerful, if new research is successful. The University of Bath is to lead an international 555,000 pounds three-year project to develop a system which could cut out the need for wiring to carry electric currents in silicon chips. Computers double in power every 18 months or so as scientists and engineers develop ways to make silicon chips smaller. But in the next few years they will hit a limit imposed by the need to use electric wiring, which weakens signals sent between computer components at high speed. The new research project could produce a way of carrying electric signal without the need for wiring. Wi fi Internet systems and mobile phones use wireless technology now, but the electronics that create and use wireless signals are too large to be used within individual microchips successfully. The research project, which involves four universities in the UK and a university and research center in Belgium and France, will look at ways of producing microwave energy on a small scale by firing electrons into magnetic fields produced in semiconductors that are only a few atoms wide and are layered with magnets.
New Method Sorts Nanotubes By Size
PhysOrg.com
June 23, 2006
Rice University scientists have developed the first method for sorting semiconducting carbon nanotubes based on their size, a long-awaited development that could form the basis of a nanotube purification system capable of producing the necessary feedstocks for nano-circuits, therapeutic agents, next-generation power cables and more. Nanotubes, tiny cylinders of carbon no wider than a strand of DNA, possess a tantalizing array of properties coveted by materials scientists. Nanotubes are stronger than steel, but weigh one sixth as much. Some varieties are excellent semiconductors, while others are metals that conduct electricity as well as copper.