The largest domestic gathering of nanotechnology companies, research institutions and the public sector to date, NanoCzech Liberec 2023, will take place on 27 September in the Liberec Region at the Technical University of Liberec. It will commemorate the twentieth anniversary of the filing of the world patent for the industrial production of nanofibres and will showcase the current state of nanotechnology research in the Czech Republic and its applications in practice.
The international conference is organised by the Liberec Region and its Regional Development Agency together with its partners, the Technical University of Liberec and the CzechInvest and CzechTrade agencies.
“I always place emphasis on cooperation between academia and the manufacturing sector. I believe the conference will show how well we are doing in this respect in the region. The most visible example was, of course, the production of nanofibre face masks during the coronavirus pandemic. We were the very first to launch it in the Czech Republic. But that is far from all,” says Martin Půta, Governor of the Liberec Region, adding that the Technical University of Liberec, industry associations and the companies themselves are all doing outstanding work. “Education is the second key factor for the region’s future. Nanotechnology fields need to be brought closer to young people, as is being done, for example, at the Secondary School of Applied Arts in Glassmaking in Železný Brod, where, in cooperation with the Liberec-based company Elmarco, they have opened a new field of study, Nanotechnology and Polymers.”
Twenty years of nanotechnology in the Czech Republic
The great boom in nanotechnology research at the Technical University of Liberec came after the discovery of the technological process for the industrial production of polymer nanofibres by the team of Professor Oldřich Jirsák. “The Technical University of Liberec continues to develop nanotechnology and, above all, its applications in a wide range of fields. We have a great deal to offer in this respect,” says Miroslav Černík, Director of the Institute for Nanomaterials, Advanced Technologies and Innovation (CXI TUL) and one of the conference speakers.
Research with interesting commercial potential will be presented at the conference by selected TUL teams together with the newly established The University Company TUL, whose remit is precisely to ensure a smoother transfer of academic ideas into practice.
One example among many is the advanced technology for the regeneration of drinking water originating from CXI. “At the conference we will present a nanofibre nanocomposite developed in our laboratories. Its unique feature lies in its ability to purify water of specific types of pollution in ultra-short times on the order of hundreds of milliseconds. It is currently in the phase of testing its potential transfer into practice,” adds Ondřej Havelka, a researcher at CXI and the Faculty of Mechatronics, Informatics and Interdisciplinary Studies at TUL.
A conference for industry and investors
The organisers will present conference visitors with the best of the Czech nanotechnology sector. “In addition to the lectures, we are preparing an exhibition of more than twenty innovative companies, complemented by a presentation of selected TUL teams. We want to showcase patents and technological solutions to potential customers and investors. We believe this will help the region to grow,” says Jiří Ulvr, Councillor of the Liberec Region for economic and regional development, European projects, spatial planning and rural development.
The Liberec-based company Elmarco, which develops and manufactures machines for the production of nanofibres on an industrial scale, will not be missing either. “Our customers focus primarily on solutions in the field of air and liquid filtration and in functional textiles. A great opportunity for our sector is the energy industry, specifically energy storage, where truly top-class components are needed,” says Miloslav Masopust, Director of Elmarco.
For companies looking for a recipe for how to bring their solutions to market, the CzechInvest and CzechTrade agencies are preparing their own contributions to the conference. The former will present its Technology Incubation programme, through which it supports innovative projects at a critical stage of development. The second of the two agencies will offer consultations with representatives of three of its foreign offices. The focus will be on the attractive markets of Australia, the USA and China.
A global incubator of nanotechnology
The patronage and planned attendance of Helena Langšádlová, Minister for Science, Research and Innovation, and Jozef Síkela, Minister of Industry and Trade, testify to the fact that nanotechnology is important not only for the region but for the whole of the Czech Republic. Both will come to Liberec to express their support for innovators and researchers. “The Czech Republic possesses the largest industrial capacity for the production of nanofibres in the European Union and is regarded worldwide as one of the major incubators of nanotechnology. To maintain this privileged position, we must continually draw the attention of large companies, investors and leading scientists to our country, and that too is the purpose of the upcoming conference,” concludes Jiří Kůs, Chairman of the Czech Nanotechnology Industries Association. In his view, nanotechnology is an important part of the technological revolution of the twenty-first century. In the future, it can bring Czech companies a significant competitive advantage.
More information about the conference
Information about the organisers
The press release was issued by TUL in cooperation with the Liberec Region, the Regional Development Agency and its partners https://tuni.tul.cz/rubriky/veda-a-vyzkum/id:148905
| About the NanoCzech Liberec 2023 conference The most ambitious nanotechnology conference in the Czech Republic to date is being held under the auspices of Helena Langšádlová, Minister for Science, Research and Innovation (patronage and attendance), Jan Lipavský, Minister of Foreign Affairs (patronage), Jozef Síkela, Minister of Industry and Trade (attendance), Martin Půta, Governor of the Liberec Region (patronage and attendance), and Miroslav Brzezina, Rector of the Technical University of Liberec (patronage and attendance). The NanoCzech Liberec 2023 conference will take place on Wednesday 27 September 2023 from 9:30 to 16:30 on the campus of the Technical University of Liberec in Building G, Univerzitní náměstí 1410. It is intended for innovative companies, their owners, management, start-ups, investors, representatives of public administration, researchers and students. At the conference we will present the best of the Czech nano-industry. Speakers will include the originators of world patents, high-tech companies and clusters, and economic diplomats and representatives of investment companies will be present. The programme features a panel discussion and the NanoCzech Expo, a space reserved for the presentation of individual nanotechnology companies. |
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