Review 2018 – NRW Nano Conference

The Plenary and Keynote Speakers of the 8^th NRW Nano-Conference

Prof. Dr. Tommaso Calarco

Professor at and Director of the Institute for Complex Quantum Systems, University of Ulm, and Initiator and Member of the High-Level Steering Committee for the FET Flagship on Quantum Technologies

Prof. Dr. Nathalie Katsonis

Professor of Chemistry at the MESA+ Institut for Nanotechnology, University of Twente

Prof. Adrian M. Ionescu, Ph.D.

Professor at Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Lausanne, and Director of the Laboratory of Micro / Nanoelectronic Devices (NANOLAB) and Member of Steering Board Health EU FET Flagship

Dr.
Jaap C. Haartsen

Father of Bluetooth. Inventor and expert in the area of wireless technologies.

Founder of JHC2 (Jaap Haartsen Consultancy Company), the Netherlands

The 8^th NRW Nano Conference presented innovations in materials for digitalisation and many other applications.

North Rhine-Westphalia’s leading role in the fields of nanotechnology and materials science was clearly demonstrated at the internationally renowned NRW Nano-Conference in Dortmund. In its eighth edition, the event was extended from nanotechnology to the topic of “Innovation in materials and applications”. With the expanded spectrum, current developments in business and science were taken into account and the benefits for visitors increased significantly. Also further innovations like the thematically open calls were positively honoured by the community and numerous new sessions were created.

In the past decade, the fusion of nanotechnology and material sciences has proven to be advantageous for both disciplines, for example in future fields such as information and communication technology. North Rhine-Westphalia has long established itself here as one of the leading international locations. It is our aim to further expand this leading role in Europe. Digitalisation cannot be achieved by software alone. Innovative hardware is also important for making progress with digitalisation in North Rhine-Westphalia. This will strengthen our international position as a location for innovation.

With the 8^th NRW Nano-Conference, the Congress Centre Westfalenhallen Dortmund became a centre for networking and exchange for two days and provided insights into “classic” focal topics such as “energy efficiency”, “electronics & optoelectronics” and “health & medicine”, but also into new specialist topics such as “functional surfaces” and “fibres & composites”, which took account of the extended range of content of the conference. The transfer of research and development results into innovative applications which was also an important aspect of the Nano-Conference. Where business and science come together, funding projects are not far away. For this reason, the two specialist sessions “LEITMARKT.NRW” and “ROCKET – cross-border KET projects” provided insights into successful R&D projects from NRW.

With over 100 interesting lectures by experts from business and science, almost 120 posters in which Young Academics presented their research, a fully booked exhibition with almost 50 participating companies and institutes and an evening matchmaking event in the German Football Museum, the 8^th NRW Nano-Conference was an extremely successful event.

The high quality of the event was made possible, among other things, by the sponsors. Covestro Deutschland AG, as “Young Academics Sponsor” of the conference, specifically supported all activities of the young scientists of NRW at the conference.

Together with NRW Minister of Economic Affairs Prof. Dr. Andreas Pinkwart, Dr. Péter Krüger from Covestro presented the “Best Poster Award” to the best Young Academics of the poster exhibition: 1^st place went to the poster “Ultrafast and efficient single photon detectors embedded in nanophotonic circuitry” by Simone Ferrari (poster author) and Fabian Beutel (poster presenter) from the University of Münster, 2^nd place went to the topic “Minority Transfer through a n(i)pn Core-multishell Nanowire” by Lisa Liborius, University of Duisburg-Essen. The high quality of all presented posters, did not make the decision easy for the jury, which is why the third place was awarded three times. He went to the posters “Strain transfer across grain boundaries of CVD-grown MoS₂ monolayers” by Anna Blob, University of Münster, “Secondary structure analysis of xanthan using atomic force microscopy” by Jenny Fjodorova, University of Bielefeld and “Detection of accumulated HIF in kidney cells and its modulation using albumin-derived artificial oxygen carriers” by Annika Stokvis from Essen University Hospital.

Other sponsors were Elmos Semiconductor AG, Hitachi High-Technologies Europe GmbH, LIMO GmbH and Raith GmbH. These and other sponsors as well as many other companies, institutes and networks presented themselves and their innovative products, services and processes at the accompanying exhibition.

Overall, a very positive summary can be drawn: The 8^th NRW Nano-Conference, organized by the Ministry of Economics, Innovation, Digitalisation and Energy of North Rhine-Westphalia and the NanoMicroMaterialsPhotonics.NRW state cluster (NMWP.NRW) together with the Economic Development Agency Dortmund, was an outstanding meeting of the high-tech scene in North Rhine-Westphalia with a diverse program, top-class speakers and an audience interested in innovative materials and applications.