Innovation Anthology #198:
In the new field of nanotechnology, it’s not enough for Canadian scientists to simply follow upon the heels of other countries.
According to Dr. Nils Petersen, Director General of the National Institute for Nanotechnology, Canada has the right stuff to be a nanotechnology leader.
DR. NILS PETERSEN: Ultimately we have a competitive edge in our brains more than our brawn, if you will, as a country because we don’t have that many people, so we can’t compete in labour rates. But we can I think compete at the intellectual level.
Globally, Canada produces 2 percent of the gross domestic product, but generates about 4 percent of the world’s knowledge.
DR. NILS PETERSEN: And that extra knowledge generation allows us to take advantage of the 96 percent of the knowledge created around the world and bring it to Canada. But it also allows us to create and develop new technologies here that hopefully will lead to business development as well.
Of the 23 principle investigators at NINT several have come from other countries
And Dr. Petersen says some of the new nanotechnologies they are developing focus on hydrogen capture, fuel cells and solar panels.
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I’M CHERYL CROUCHER
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Program Date: 2009-01-20