Competition promotes nanotech business

"I developed the idea for this competition out of frustration that nanotechnology was accused of being either hype or science - not a business," said Mark Brandt, managing partner of the Maple Fund and co-founder of the Nano-Network. "This competition has demonstrated that there are many nano ideas that are ready to be commercialised." The following is a complete list of winners:

First Place - $50,000 QD Vision of Cambridge, Mass., is developing the next generation of flat panel displays using quantum dot light emitting diode devices and associated manufacturing techniques.

Second Place - $15,000 General Lighting of Boston designs low-power, low-cost carbon nanotube-based lighting elements for backlighting in mobile communications products.

Third Place - $10,000 Cornell DNA Nanobarcodes of Ithaca, N.Y., is using DNA to build nanostructured materials that can be used as bar codes.

Five runner-up awards of $1,000 each were also presented to:

Clinical Nanotechnologies Corp. of Columbus, Ohio, is developing the Buccal Patch, which will deliver fast pain relief to cancer patients, and other drug delivery systems.

Y-Carbon of Philadelphia is developing supercapacitors using nanoporous carbon material that can be used to store energy in hybrid vehicles.

Applied Standard of San Francisco is developing nano-based sensors that detect the presence of hydrogen in electrical transformers. The company plans to locate research and development and manufacturing operations in Northeast Ohio to take advantage of existing relationships with the NASA Glenn Research Center/Glennan Microsystems Initiative.

...continued