Over the past few years, a confluence of events including the subsidy environment, social acceptance and energy security has brought alternative energy to the forefront as an attractive investment area. In this presentation we provide an overview of the alternative energy market, specifically the solar energy industry, and the drivers in place to sustain its growth. In particular, we offer a snapshot of the subsidy environment, leading and emerging players and private / public investor perception. We also review various solar technologies, nanotechnology influences, challenges for the industry and thoughts on the industry's future.

We have the ability to transform the world’s inefficient, unreliable and insecure electric power system into one that can truly meet every individual’s needs in this new century. The vision for this transformation includes a major technology updating of existing systems that allows for consumer control of energy use, as well as interconnection of smart direct current microgrids and distributed generation systems around the world. Solar photovoltaics (PV) is a simple solution that can drive this transformation, and we have reached a tipping point that creates the possibility of a perfect power system, which will ensure absolute and universal availability of energy in the quantity and quality necessary to meet every consumer’s needs. This talk will address the state-of-the-art in conversion of sunlight to electricity, the companies and countries making a meaningful impact on advancing the introduction of solar power, and provide an overview of new ways that individuals and governments can act today to help, quite literally, to put power into the hands of the people.

Solid Oxide Fuel Cells (SOFCs) consisting of durable ceramic components can nowadays be considered as the most promising fuel cell systems for alternative sources of energy due to their high electrical conversion efficiency, superior environmental performance, and fuel flexibility. In comparison to conventional SOFCs, micro tubular SOFCs have many advantages such as high resistance to thermal shock and higher power densities reaching 0.3Wcm-1 at 550oC. Recent improvements of the mechanical and electrochemical properties at reduced operating temperatures allows the use of cost-effective materials for interconnects and balance of plant. Traditionally, yttria stabilized zirconia (YSZ) and NiO-YSZ cermets have been used as the electrolyte and anode materials in SOFC systems, respectively. Electrochemical and mechanical properties of these materials under different operational conditions have been extensively studied and optimized by changing the cermet structure and particle size distribution. To reduce the operating temperature, and increase cell performance, alternative materials for the cell components have been developed, such as perovskite single phase and composite anode and cathode materials and electrolytes operating in the intermediate temperature range. The present paper is focused on modeling, mechanical, and electrochemical properties of the micro-tubular SOFCs and SOFC cube stacks for potential use in an APU-system, which requires quick start-up. High volumetric power density, and ease of fabrication. To predict microtubular SOFC performance, a two-dimensional (2D) model was considered, followed by the results of mechanical and electrochemical testing. The attention was paid to the development of materials for electrodes and electrolytes that lower the operating temperatures to below 650oC, as well as to the development of manufacturing processes for sub-millimeter tubular SOFC cells for arrangement and integration at the micro level. The results of a micro-tubular SOFC, and a cube-type cell stack module, fabricated and tested to check its applicability for commercialization of an auxiliary power unit (APU) and a stationary small power source system are presented. The micro-tubular SOFCs with high energy efficiency, quick start-up and shut-down performance and low production cost are described in addition to the mechanical properties and fabrication technology data for the SOFC materials operating in the temperature range of 450-650oC.

The transfer of scientific results from basic research to commercial products is a major challenge in nanotechnology. Many concepts for this transfer involving start-up and large companies have been established. In 2000, Sustech Darmstadt was founded as a Public-Private-Partnership company and has successfully transferred results of basic science into the market. The concept and the structure of the company will be presented supported with examples of technological developments, scale up issues and products based on nanoparticulate systems. In addition, some of the highlights of the basic research at the Institute for Nanotechnology in the area of tunable electrical properties of nanoporous structures consisting of transparent conducting oxides with applications in electronics will be presented.

Singapore, located at the centre of Asia and is an ideal dynamic hub to converge advanced R & D and industry leaders, robust alliances, new technologies and world class infrastructure. In the field of nanotechnology, Singapore is equipped with state of the art facilities (one of the best in the world) for nanotechnology R & D and it has the unique open research environment for encouraging and attracting international collaboration and industry cooperation. Combining its efficient government administration and international business and financial environment, Singapore is becoming an attractive place for setting up leading R & D centres, research and development partnerships for research institutions and industries, and for locating company regional headquarters. Singapore government is aggressively promoting innovation and launched attractive funding schemes in help fostering SMEs and spin offs from research institutions. The Singapore Research, Innovation & Enterprise Council (RIEC) headed by the Prime Minister launched an aggressive increase of R & D budget for the period of 2006-2010 to 12 Billion SGD (7.9BUSD), a 240% increase from the previous period (R & D Spending to account for 3% of GDP by 2010). Singapore is not only a melting point of diverse cultures but most importantly a place for exciting converging technologies, global partnerships and creates growth nanotech industries.In this talk we give an overview on the Singapore core facilities for nanotechnology R & D, industry collaboration schemes and status of industry development. We highlight on the opportunities for international alliances, R & D and business partnerships. We will also provide a broad nanotech landscape across the Asia region and make recommendations in strategically connecting to the Asia Nanospace to accelerate global nanotechnology development.

Nanotechnology is an entirely new technological approach to create and manufacture revolutionary products, many with application across multiple industries. Nanotechnology is contributing decisively to finding groundbreaking solutions for the most pressing needs of our time. Nanotechnology-based products and methods have the potential to fundamentally transform existing markets. The development time of a nanotechnology-based product or method from invention to commercialization sometimes is hard to estimate in advance. That is why a solid and assured financing is vitally important, especially for young nanotech companies. Many success stories of nanotechnology companies in Europe and worldwide are made possible only by venture capital. The goal of the cooperation between a nanotechnology company and VC financer after successful commercialization is to effect a trade sale or to take the company public. Two exemplary success stories from Europe are MagForce Nanotechnologies AG, Berlin, Germany, and ItN Nanovation, Saarbrücken, Germany. With groundbreaking products and methods, as well as superb management know-how, these two companies have been successfully brought to the stock market and thus have a solid financial basis for further rapid development. MagForce Nanotechnologies is the global leader of nanotechnology-based cancer treatment. Their cancer therapy has no material side effects and can be used in combination with conventional procedures. The company has been listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange (Entry Standard) since September 2007. ItN Nannovation AG develops innovative ceramic products such as filter systems and coatings which are used by large industrial corporations. The company has been listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange (Entry Standard) since July 2006. Both have been supported with venture capital and management know-how by Nanostart AG, the leading nanotechnology investment company.

In the last decades, nanotechnologies have been a burgeoning area of science and engineering which show an increasing potential to transform a broad range of industries, and to boost the US and European firms’ competitiveness (OECD, 1998). Due to this attractive promise, several management scholars are wondering what the main challenges are that nanotech start-ups will face in turning nanotech inventions into valuable and marketable nanotech innovations, also considering that nanotechnology discoveries could represent “inventions of methods of inventing” (Rothaermel et al., 2007). Although these emerging technologies share some problems with new ventures in other emerging industries ( e.g. biotech), nanotechnology firms have to balance the management of high technical and high market risk, still evolving regulatory frameworks (Bowman et al. 2006) and strategies for entering the business network and for attracting investments, e.g. in the form of potential venture capitalists. Potential investors, in turn, will face the well-known hurdle of the due diligence, considering for example health or safety concerns, manufacturing, availability of distribution channels, etc. (Burden, 2007).In this vein, the paper attempts to gain a deeper understanding about the factors explaining differential growth in nanotech new ventures. Prior research points to the magnitude of investing in co-specialised resources in order to exploit the innovation value and the importance to build a sound strategic alliances’ portfolio of commercial partners. As Teece noted: “A competitive advantage can be gained or lost on the market of complementary assets" (1986, p. 289). In the nanotech context, this means that new ventures have to match the explorative strategies for new scientific and technological knowledge with the potential market applications. As these applications are several, no one start-up firm can hope to capture all of the value from their advanced materials innovation, and therefore the alliance building is critical to the growth trajectories.The paper is organized as follows: first, we provide an overview of related prior work on strategic entrepreneurship; then, we highlight the benefits and the drawbacks of partnering for exploiting nanotech innovations and of using the patent instrument to this goal. This is instrumental for examining, in next section, different strategies of new nanotech ventures to capture the value of innovation. We analyze the downstream alliances of a sample of European nanotech new ventures to highlights the benefits and drawbacks of these strategic alliances. Findings reveal that it is worth to add some caution to the generalized opinion according to which alliances are the key factor behind new nanotech firms’ performance. Implications both for theory and practice and directions for further research conclude the paper.

Many nanomaterials are platform technologies that can serve multiple applications and markets, offering a large total addressable market and safety in the multiplicity of opportunities. However, a breadth of opportunities can bring risk as well. Pursuing too many opportunities can strain the limited resources of a startup company and can impede its growth. Striking a balance between breadth and focus is a critical factor in achieving long term success. This presentation describes Reactive NanoTechnologies accomplishments in striking that balance during the process to commercialize a novel, nanotechnology-based product line called NanoFoil®. NanoFoil® is a metallic foil with thousands of nanoscale layers that react on ignition to produce energy in a rapid burst of heat and light. The multilayer material was developed at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and Johns Hopkins University and is now being commercially manufactured and sold by Reactive NanoTechnologies (RNT), a venture backed start-up company. The NanoFoil ® product is currently used as a local heat source for joining and ignition but it can also be used for sealing, signaling, and heating. In the case of joining, the foil acts as a local heat source that replaces the furnace or torch in conventional soldering operations. By using a foil to heat just the interface being bonded, temperature sensitive electronic components are not damaged by high furnace temperatures and materials with large mismatches in contraction on cooling (metals and ceramics) can be bonded without warping or cracking. RNT’s foil products and process technology is currently being used to join LEDs to boards and sputtering targets to backing plates, yet, many other joining applications are possible and they arise on a regular basis. Here we describe how RNT has achieved market penetration by focusing on three market opportunities: sputter target bonding, LED mounting, and propellant ignition in the near term, but is leveraging venture financing, government funding and a broad IP portfolio to enable the future pursuit of many other market opportunities with its platform nanotechnology.

Thursday, March 27Presentation Time Change*PP5.1 from 8:00 AM to 8:30 AMTechnology Development And Tech Transfer In The Nanotechnology Institute – A Comprehensive Model For Nano-Based Development. Robert W. Carpick

Thursday, March 27Paper Number Change*PP5.3 to *PP5.2Commercialization of Advanced Nano-Composite Steels; From R&D to Mass Production. Greg Kusinski

Thursday, March 27Paper Number Change*PP5.4 to *PP5.3Nano in Near Term Commercially viable Clean Energy Technologies. Deepak Srivastava