University of Melbourne students scoop the pool in 2005 Biotech and Nanotech Entrepreneur Awards

Innovative postgraduate students from the University of Melbourne have scooped the major awards, including the 2005 Biotechnology and Nanotechnology Companies of the Year, at the Biotechnology Entrepreneur Program™ awards ceremony. Three winning teams of postgraduate students were among 13 teams to take up the challenge to build a company and develop a business plan for an innovative product within six months. The Victorian Minister for Innovation, John Brumby presented the awards and said the high-achieving young scientists could be the pioneers of tomorrow’s biotech and nanotech firms. Winner of the 2005 Biotechnology Company of the Year award was SCYANCE, for developing an imaginative educational science kit, Biology Madness, for children aged between 8 and 10. SCYANCE also won the Monash Commercial Best Business Plan, Nanotechnology Victoria Best Annual Report and the Environment and Community Award. QYANTEK won the award for best nanotechnology company, for their innovative development of safety labels for nanoparticles.

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Technology conference to cater for Melbourne’s automotive cluster
By Steven Keeping

With the Technology Futures Conference (TFC) moving to Melbourne after three successful years in Adelaide, the organisers are tailoring the content to match Victoria’s automotive electronics focus. “While continuing to cover the technologies that matter to Australian engineers – for example defence, medical and telematics – TFC’s move to Melbourne this year provides an ideal opportunity to increase the content focused on automotive electronics,” explained Jason Kuchel, executive director of the Electronics Industries Association (EIA), co-organiser of the conference. The emphasis at this year’s event will be on “engineering the future” and the presentations will aim to demonstrate how “blue sky” developments in automotive electronics, photonics, nanotechnology, defence, energy and communications will lead to the Australian export products of tomorrow. TFC will take place in Melbourne’s Crown Casino Complex on 5-6 July.

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CAP-XX Announces BriteFlash Power Architecture for High-Resolution LED Flash Camera Phones
Sydney, AUSTRALIA

CAP-XX Inc. has announced its BriteFlash power architecture to provide LED flash camera phones with enough light to produce high-resolution images. CAP-XX's BriteFlash architecture provides enough flash power to eliminate both dark and blurry photos using high-capacitance. CAP-XX also developed the power architecture that optimises a supercapacitor to power flash LEDs. "Greater than 2-megapixel camera phones require a high-intensity flash in medium to low light conditions to ensure good pictures," said Anthony Kongats, CEO of CAP-XX. "Some solutions are available but lack adequate power to produce quality photos in all light conditions. Our BriteFlash power architecture completes the equation with the power to drive today's LEDs." CAP-XX is a company recognized for its nanotechnology process for producing high capacitance, low equivalent-series-resistance supercapacitors delivering the industry's highest energy and power densities in the smallest packages.

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Nanotechnology in Queensland Making Good Progress

Manufacturers face a fundamental constraint in creation of new products: only so much performance can be extracted from current materials.  For example, a material can only be so hard without getting too brittle. If the trade off within materials can be tailored, different products and new innovations can be enabled. And different has certainly been the success of Cox enterprise with the production of their Stockman ride on mower. Like many other of the established icons, Cox’s ride on mower market was being eroded by imports. Cox sought the advice of Brisbane based CMD Design to create a ride on mower design that would not only cut into the market of the gold standard product, but leap frog it. Craig Mounsey heads the research team at CMD and it was through this team that they came across a nano enhanced plastic that allowed them to take a concept and bring to reality without compromise on price, quality or design. With the nanotechnology revolution in its infancy, the Queensland Government’s Department of State Development, in conjunction with industry players have been quick to form an industry alliance. Under the interim chairmanship of Steve Healy, Alcan’s Director of International Research in Bauxite and Aluminum, the Queensland Nanotechnology Alliance (QNA) is leading the charge in ensuring decision makers are aware of the importance nanotechnology has in terms economic growth and employment generation.

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Nanotechnology may be used to  ‘scrub’ Volatile Organic Compounds from Air

Rising alarm over the impact of indoor air pollution on Australia's health and rate of lung disease has sparked a national research effort to develop new ways to remove toxic substances from the air of homes, offices and factories. Researchers in the Cooperative Research Centre for Contamination Assessment and Remediation Technology (CRC CARE) at Curtin University of Technology are using nanotechnology to develop two world-first methods of filtering cancer and disease causing substances out of indoor air. "Indoor air quality is attracting greater public attention due to its impact on health, which is estimated to cost Australia about $12 billion annually," project leader Professor Moses Tadé says. "Air toxics consist mainly of volatile organic compounds (VOC).” Long-term exposure to VOCs causes sick building syndrome (SBS), in which the building's occupants experience rising levels of eye, nose and throat irritation, headache, allergic reactions, breathing difficulties, nausea, nosebleeds, vomiting, fatigue and dizziness.

The solution, says Professor Tadé, is to develop ultra-efficient, low-cost technologies that can 'scrub' the VOCs from the surrounding air. His team is developing two innovative techniques based on nanomaterials. The first is a combination of adsorption and catalytic destruction that uses a nanosized porous material with high adsorption capacity and catalytic activity to achieve low-temperature destruction of the toxic VOCs. The second is known as photocatalytic oxidation (PCO) and uses a nanosized photocatalyst with visible light function to oxidise VOCs at room temperature, rendering the air safe for people to inhale.

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pSivida Given 'Buy' Rating by Australian Bioshares Newsletter

Global bio-nanotech drug Delivery Company, pSivida Limited is featured in a report in the March 24, 2006 issue of Bioshares, a respected Australian independent biotech investment newsletter. The editors of the publication concluded "pSivida has important drug delivery assets in its possession. It has the right blend of emerging technologies that are just hitting the market with strong commercial potential, backed by its still to be commercialised BioSilicon(TM) technology. Overlaying this is a proven technology development team led by Paul Ashton." The editors of Bioshares also focused on Retisert(TM) and Medidur(TM), implantable systems for the back of the eye that can be used to deliver drugs.

Biotechnology Asia 2006 to begin on August 9
By Loo Pik Kwan

Malaysia’s third international biotechnology trade event, Biotechnology Asia 2006 (Exhibition, Conference and Awards), will be held at the Putra World Trade Centre from August 9-11. 

The event is expected to attract more than 5,000 trade visitors from 15 countries and 100 participating companies from the region. It is aimed at creating a strategic platform to launch biotechnology players onto the regional platform, enhance networking and growth in the industry.

A two-day conference themed “Convergence of Biotechnology and Nanotechnology” will be held highlighting the study of nanobiotechnology with more than 400 delegates and 20 speakers from India, Singapore, Hong Kong, Pakistan and Australia.  The event is organised by Protemp Exhibitions Sdn Bhd and MBIO is one of the supporting organisations.

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