The next five years of nanotechnology

This is what Rafi Kuriat, chairman of the NES Association for Nanotechnology and member of the board of INNI - the Israel Nanotechnology Association, who also serves as co-chairman of the Nano-Israel conference together with Ms. Nava Savarsky-Sopher and Prof. Rashef Tana, says in a special interview with the Hidan website

Three years ago we reported On the website you will find information about the establishment of Maged NES - Nanotubes Empowerment Solutions, which is engaged in the development of technologies for the use of nanotubes for ground-breaking applications, which will form the basis of the industry for the next decade or two. It turns out that the association as part of the Magnet program is a success story and that the Magnet committee headed by the chief scientist at TMT decided to approve funding for it for two more years.

Rafi Koriat, entrepreneur, CEO and board member of public and private companies, who serves as chairman of the association as well as co-chairman of the Nano Israel conference to be held on March 26-27, at the David Intercontinental Hotel, says in a special interview to the Hidaan website that the cooperation between Large and medium-sized veteran companies, start-up companies, as well as the nanotechnology centers in the academy proves itself.

"The field of nanotechnology is important, but it needs to be led in the right direction to maximize the existing potential in the country." Koriat says. who emphasizes that the INNI organization, which was established five years ago, is facing the best period so far, in the next five years, a period in which the revolution moves from the Academy to Industry.

Koriat compared the nanotechnology revolution to previous technological revolutions such as the automobile, electronics and communication revolutions: "In each of these fields there were difficult technological barriers that broke through them. If we take microelectronics as an example, once the experts asked if it was possible to put more than a small number of transistors on a chip, today the chips contain millions and more. This example illustrates how once technological barriers are broken, the sky is the limit."

The nanotechnology revolution is bigger than any of its predecessors and some argue that it will be bigger than all of them together. The significant reason is that technology crosses boundaries between different sciences. If we talk about the fields of physics, chemistry, materials, medicine, the environment, security. At almost every point in these interfaces, nanotechnology has the ability to advance existing applications forward.

The uniqueness of the field is the integration of knowledge from different fields, where in each field it is possible to break through the technological barriers that were there before, the combination creates products with a sophisticated level of integration and with far more significant future achievements than can be obtained in any other way.
"In the field of nanotechnology, significant research has developed all over the world. At the beginning, there were many question marks as to whether this was possible and feasible - because these are structures that contain the same atoms but with a different atomic structure than what is known in nature. So with deliberate intervention, it is possible to obtain other materials that did not exist in nature before, which enable a very large space of different, ground-breaking applications."

"However, even though quite a few years have passed since the interest in nanotechnology began, to this day most of the knowledge in the field is still in the academy and the main goal is how to transfer this knowledge to industrial applications that created here companies, jobs and products that can be traded all over the world. This is actually the challenge that INNI - Israel national nanotechnology initiative has set for itself. The goal is for Israel to be a major player in the field of nanotechnology while building a national infrastructure based on research, and applying the fruits of the research in industrial products in companies in Israel."
The idea was to concentrate first on the research centers, promote deficiencies identified as critical such as equipment, researchers and laboratories, and bring about a situation where, in an integrated and managed program, it will be possible to accelerate what has already been applied in research to a higher level of readiness and maturity which will then be transferred to industry.

Telam, the chief scientist and the Ministry of Finance combined with a philanthropic donation, agreed to allocate a significant sum of 250 million dollars for the first five years to promote research and application in the industry, and a large part of the credit goes to Mr. Dan Wilensky who was the driving force in the matter. Today we are in the finals of the first five years, and the results are quite impressive in terms of the list of achievements at all levels. An investment was made and six of the best nanotechnology centers of their kind in the world were established at each of the leading universities: the Technion, Bar Ilan, Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Be'er Sheva and the Weizmann Institute, with an impressive infrastructure of equipment and researchers, and today about 900 researchers work in the field, about a third of them are very senior and the others are researchers At the level of a doctor and students for a master's and third degree, this diversity constitutes a first-class scientific force that will accelerate the existing research while transferring the knowledge from the academy to the industry and at the same time it will be possible to increase the research in the selected fields and thus preserve the competitiveness factor at the global level over time.
These centers have so far produced close to 700 patent applications, of which about 180 have already been approved. There are several hundred collaborations between academia and industry as well as success stories and a harvest of over 6,000 scientific articles.

"The association NES - Nanotubes Empowerment Solutions handles, as mentioned, applied solutions based on a material called nanotubes, which are mostly carbon-based, but there are also nanotubes made of other materials. The combination of these nanotubes in various materials enables groundbreaking applications and the association that was established as part of the Magnet program three years ago is finishing its third year and has been given the green light for two more years in the Magnet program, which is managed with a high level of skill and efficiency by Mr. Ilan Peled."

"The NES consortium includes 14 companies, including the major companies such as the aerospace industry, Rafael, Elbit, Pelsan, Alup, Kilo-Lamda and others, and about 30 researchers from all the universities and Shenkar College who work together with the aim of solving technological bottlenecks that will lead to the possibility of building future products. "

"The association concentrates on 4 main areas: the field of shielding, energy, transparent and conductive materials at the same time, and optics. In each of these areas, technological goals were set and a model was defined - a kind of prototype in which the technological progress is tested by applying the solution to the model. If we take the field of protection as an example, they build models - a material that contains nanotubes in a certain composition, and test the level of strength and durability of that material against different situations, by making changes in the production process and adding this or another material to see if the level of improvement. The demonstrator also helps direct researchers and companies to understand where and how to improve and achieve the expected results. The results at the end of the last three years are significant. Materials were developed at a good level and as a result the association received permission to operate for another two years conditional on the submission of plans and their approval by the Magnet Committee."

In each of the areas mentioned, a significant improvement was recorded in the results before the merger and today, and now goals have been set for the next two years. Accordingly, a forecast of future sales that will be created as a direct result of the activity in Maged was presented. In fact, the fact that researchers from different places, different companies with pre-defined challenges are combined, leverages all the abilities to the next level and this is actually the essence of the idea around magnet - one and another is worth much more than the sum of them.

Regarding the INNI organization "the approval to extend the activity for another five years was received at the end of last year, following the success in the first five years. We have reached the stage where Israel is positioned as one of the leading countries in the field of nanotechnology research after the USA, Japan, Germany and Korea, when the significant figure is that Israel is immediately behind them in investing only a small percentage of the investments of these countries. This figure indicates that with joint forces, a targeted program and government aid backed by the chief scientist, without which it would not have been possible to succeed, Israel was able to establish itself as a very significant player in the field of research in nanotechnology, with a significant expected return on investment. It is certainly a mark of respect for the level of research, for the involvement of the chief scientist in these programs, for the proof of the support and support of the Ministry of Finance in this field."

The model tried in the field of nanotechnology is an example that if we do this in other fields we can with a high probability achieve similar achievements to those of nanotechnology. In addition, it is important to note that despite the subject of ego in research, the collaboration between researchers from the same institution or from different institutions joining together for joint work, is one of the best known in Israel and everyone, including the researchers and the industry, benefit from it.

The big challenge that lies ahead of us - how do we lead the beautiful results obtained in today's research to the industrial layer for applications in a number of ground-breaking areas, and for this a number of steps have been taken.
At the same time and in addition to the commercialization companies that exist in the academic institutions, each of the nanotechnology centers appoints a senior official with industrial experience whose job it is to find new technologies in the drawers of researchers in the field of nanotechnology, and to bring them to the attention of both the companies and potential investors in the hope that they will be able to leverage this further.

Within the INNI organization, my direct responsibility is leading the relationship between academia and industry and promoting it, that is, between researchers in Israel and industry in Israel as well as with international parties. The goal is also to create cooperation with international parties, including with associations similar to the NES Association, in order to receive recognition and approval for compliance with international standards, so that as soon as we can start selling applications in the field of nanotechnology, we will not face significant commercial barriers. In addition, the INNI website (www.nanoisrael.org) has been upgraded and renewed and an advanced search engine has been added that allows locating companies and researchers according to their fields of activity, thus making it possible to establish direct contact and thereby speed up the commercialization process directly, quickly and efficiently.

And how will these developments be presented at the Nano Israel conference?

Koriat: "The Nano Israel conference is an important platform that comes to present to the visitors and the world the fruits of research and industry and to reveal the potential collaborations to all the companies and entities that will come from both Israel and abroad. In light of the success of the previous conference, we expect about 1200 visitors to arrive. The conference is divided into several areas that include scientific presentations by leading researchers from Israel and the world, 40 companies, most of which are Israeli in the nano field and some from abroad, each of which will present the company in a focused and brief manner, what it does, what the main technology is, and what it is looking for such as investment, partner, etc. thus allowing presenting companies leverage in front of international and local parties visiting the conference.

In addition, we will present at the MatimOP booth (at no cost to companies) about 15 models of nanotechnology products from selected companies so that visitors can see initial results of applications in the field as well as in a tangible way what nanotechnology can contribute and where it can advance. In addition, innovative developments "raisins" that the researchers will reveal to the visitors of the conference and each center will present two technologies in groundbreaking fields developed by it.

"One of the topics that is given a lot of weight is India and China - the head of the academy will come from both China and India. The fact that the East is becoming very significant at the global commercial level gives them a place of honor at the conference."

"Since we are in a field that combines research, industry and education, it is also necessary to prepare the next generation. We are inviting 150 students to visit the conference with the help and assistance of the Ort Israel central management who will locate outstanding students from all the high schools in Israel who will be invited to see and be impressed up close, thus increasing their awareness and curiosity to integrate in this field in the future. Outstanding students are opinion makers, we want them to come, impress, return to the schools, share with their colleagues, the students will thus help and assist in conveying the message and increasing awareness in the field, as well as supporting the study programs in nanotechnology that are being prepared and under the responsibility of the Ort Israel management."