Annual Report 2007 - The Australian Nanotechnology Network

of those made at the recent NSTI event held in the USA. Due to the late withdrawal of two
speakers, Clive Davenport was invited to give a presentation at short notice.
Exhibition – The exhibition was held on 14 – 16 June in the NTU Sports Centre. A floor plan
and complete list of exhibitors is attached.
Australia was represented in the ANF Pavilion, together with Japan, Indonesia, Hong Kong,
Thailand, New Zealand, Malaysia, Vietnam, Singapore and India. Apart from displays and
representation by Australia and New Zealand, the pavilion had little to interest registrants and
was undermanned.
The remainder of the exhibition can be broadly divided into three categories:
Peripheral Meetings:
Commentary on peripheral meetings is detailed below:
Prof Wu - A meeting was held with Professor Maw-Kuen (MK) Wu on 14 June. Prof Wu has
several roles – he is the Director of Physics at the Academia Sinica, Director General of the
National Nanoscience and Nanotechnology Program, current Chair of the ANF and Chair of the
Taiwan Nanotechnology Industry Development Association (TANIDA). Also present in the
meeting were Tina Rankovic, Alfred Huang (Austrade) and Dr Tsing-Tang Song, CEO of the
National Nanoscience and Nanotechnology Program and Secretary General of TANIDA.
Prof Wu explained that the Academia Sinica is 100% Government funded and focuses on
fundamental research in four core areas; physical sciences, life sciences, humanities and social
sciences. He reports to the President of Academia Sinica, who reports President Chen. As such,
they are seen as a special academic group and have input into science and technology policy
setting.
With respect to TANIDA (www.tanida.org.tw) this non-profit organisation was formed in 2004,
as there is strong recognition of the need for industry involvement.
Given the international aspect of TANIDA, Tina Rankovic then discussed the forthcoming
COMS and ICONN events at some length, and repeated previous invitations by others to Prof
Wu for him to lead a Taiwanese delegation to the events.
Australian Commerce and Industry Office (ACIO) Visit – The ACIO is the Australian
representative office in Taiwan. Two meetings were held at ACIO on 15 June. For the purposes
of this report, the notes from both meetings are summarised as one. The meeting attendees were
Tina Rankovic, Alfred Huang, Henry Wang (Invest Australia), Steve Waters (Representative
ACIO), Jeff Turner (Deputy Representative – ACIO) and Dean Woodgate (Director of
Education, Science and Training, ACIO).
Dean Woodgate explained that he represented DEST in Taiwan and works closely with Austrade
and Invest Australia to raise the profile of Australian nanotechnology in Taiwan. To date, he has
organised some activities that have mostly involved academia. One such activity was a DEST
funded nano-bio workshop in Melbourne that involved 20 Taiwanese academics visiting
counterparts in Melbourne. They are now looking to build on this momentum.
Tina Rankovic suggested that a Taiwanese delegation to either or both of the forthcoming
ICOMS and ICONN meetings would be an appropriate mechanism to build on the relationship.
Dean Woodgate advised there had been previous discussions with the ARCNN regarding an
Australia/Taiwan nanotechnology workshop proposed for January. Tina Rankovic suggested it
may be prudent to run it either before or after ICONN. DEST has allocated ~ $20 -25K for this
activity and it is likely that the Taiwan government will provide matching funds.
19