Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) are an odd and under worked bunch. In order to fill their time they built a second parliament building in Brussels and spend every fourth week shuttling between Brussels and Strasbourg while submitting expense claims. The Devil makes work for idle hands, and according to Chemistry World the latest scheme from Brussels is to …
A Cunning Plan To Avoid Nanotech Risks?
Michael Berger at Nanowerk has a look at the the new EU Communication Roadmap and wonders what is is for. I had a similar issue when we were involved with the Nanoforum project years ago, and pulled out when No one involved in it could explain why they were doing it or explain why the EU taxpayers were being billed …
Reality vs The Nanotech Lynch Mob
I don’t like nanomaterials companies very much. In fact they are usually nothing but trouble. If they are not squandering huge amounts of investors money chasing non existent markets then they are having messy legal spats with competitors and suppliers, or even prancing around bringing hugely expensive but ultimately pointless libel suits against anyone who questions their business model. Anyway, …
Danes Display “Huge Lack of Knowledge” About Nanomaterials
Some poor science (or at least poor science reporting) from Denmark where Otto Melchior Poulsen of the National Research Centre for the Working Environment (NFA) claims that “We can, on a scientific basis, draw a parallel between the nano boom and the asbestos scandal.” The scientific basis seems to be “that test animals used for research in his institute on …
Eyjafjallajokull – Bad for Travel but Great for Science
While the eruption of Eyjafjallajokull in Iceland is bad news for some people, it is actually quite interesting from an emerging technologies point of view, and bordering on fascinating if, like me, you somehow managed to shoehorn a big chunk of geology and geomorphology into you education (It’s a frightening thought, but I could have ended up as a geographer!) as well as …
Sunfilm Eclipsed By Withdrawal of Government Subsidies
I have always been sceptical about investing in solar companies on the basis that the market is artificially distorted by government subsidises which can work with you, or against you. Germany’s Sunfilm which manufactures amorphous silicon modules (a-Si), has today filed for insolvency claiming its business plans have been crippled by Germany’s plans to sharply reduce its solar feed-in tariff …
A Traditional Bit of Chaos & Bigotry
It’s always odd how nanotechnology gets blamed for a lot of the world’s ills A common accusation is that nanotech will lead to a loss of privacy, although this is surely more due to the proliferation of databases and processing power to enable facial or car number plate recognition. It is ironic that some of the most vocal protesters use …
“Something Should Be Done” – Nanotechnology: a UK Industry View
The new report “Nanotechnology: a UK Industry View” finally surfaced, and its recommendations are to spend more money, develop more skills, have more dialogue and..sorry, I must have nodded off, but it’s pretty standard stuff, and the recommendations are exactly the same as every other nanotech report produced over the past ten years. I have to question why we go …
UK Nanotech Stagnates? – Update
I’m still confused by the new UK KTN report on nanotech – perhaps if someone could actually produce a copy it would help! Typical of the mixed or garbled messages is “The success of nanotechnology should be industry-led, and we are proposing that BIS takes responsibility for co-ordinating nanotech in other government departments, academia and industry,” Barry Park, Nanotechnology KTN …
UK Nanotech Stagnates?
Here’s an interesting snippet from an FT report about a forthcoming report by the UK Knowledge Transfer Network on nanotechnologies The report found that UK investment in nanotechnology was low. Per capita public funding was $1.96 (£1.20) in 2008, compared with $5.06 for the US and $6.07 for Germany. As we all know, getting reliable funding numbers is very tricky, …