Dan Wilensky, a member of the National Committee for Nanotechnology and a member of the Steering Committee of the Nano Conference reports that during the period hundreds of collaborations between academia and industry were created and nearly two thousand graduate students were trained
107 million dollars invested in the last six years in the Israeli nanotechnology industry and 27 million dollars invested in facilities, also led to impressive results: according to the data of the National Committee for Nanotechnology - INNI, published ahead of the "Nano-Israel 2014" conference, which will be held this month, in the past six years Since nanotechnology was declared a national priority project, 206 "success stories" have been registered in the form of new start-up companies. 860 patents were submitted for registration by the end of 2012 - of which 270 were approved and 830 collaborations were carried out between the Israeli Academy of Industry (local and foreign).
In these years, the field also recorded significant academic achievements: 101 world-renowned scientists immigrated to Israel and were accepted as university faculty members, the number of junior scientists in the field (including postdoctoral fellows) is 220, the number of doctoral students is approximately 750, and the number of master's degree students is approximately 850 people. Over 7500 scientific articles were published in the six years, and about 1500 of them resulted from inter-university collaboration.
Also in the applied-technological field, says Dan Wilensky, a member of the National Committee for Nanotechnology and a member of the steering committee of the Nano Conference. "The field is very successful: there are 120 nano companies currently registered in INNI as they operate in diverse fields and take advantage of the unique features of nanotechnology to improve their existing products and enter new fields. There are about 15-20 relatively large companies operating in the field, such as Elbit, Rafael, Pelsan, TAA, Applied, Intel, Vulcan, Keter and Israel Chemicals, which focus part of their activities on the nano field. The other companies, medium and small (start-up companies) demonstrate unique capabilities in the field of nanotechnology and promote groundbreaking applications in the fields of technology they have developed or acquired. This part should grow in the coming years due to nano technologies that have reached maturity and are looking for industrial applications."
Wilensky says that although in Israel the scope of the industry is still minimal and estimated at a few million, the scope of the global industry is expected to reach over a trillion dollars of nano-based products and services within five years. "From our annual survey it appears that Israel will be an important player in the development of products with high added value that will be integrated into leading global industries and part of this will be produced in Israel on the basis of the information and technology developed here, mainly by the research institutions that are among the world's leaders in the field of research and development. We are on the right path to make Israel a leading nanotechnology powerhouse."
In 2007, it was decided to establish the nano field in Israel as a national priority project whose task is to establish the research and physical infrastructure in 6 universities where the research will be carried out on which the industry based on nanotechnology in Israel will be based. The first national program ended at the end of 2011. In light of its great success, the managers of the program decided to hold a second 5-year national program in the years 2012-2016.
The "Nano-Israel 2014" conference and the associated exhibition will be held this year between March 24 and 25, 2014 at the David Intercontinental Hotel in Tel Aviv and will focus on innovations and business opportunities in the fields of energy, water, environment, nanomaterials, nanoelectronics, nanophotonics, Nano-Bio and Nano-Medicine. The event is intended for academic researchers, industry and business people from around the world, and will serve as a meeting point for academics, scientists and researchers, companies, venture capitalists, private funds, institutional and corporate investors, regulatory, technology and development personnel, and government decision makers. The conference was held in collaboration with the National Committee for Nanotechnology INNI and the nanotechnology centers at the various universities and the organization of the Conference and Exhibitions Company.
