Annual Report 2007 - The Australian Nanotechnology Network

Action required: Discuss possibility of nanotechnology workshop being attached to ICONN with
ARCNN (DW). Email soft copies of COMS and ICONN brochures to Dean Woodgate (TR).
Follow up discussion re. dinner meeting with Taiwanese Minister of Science (TR/DW).
Dr Su – A meeting was held with Dr Tsung-Tsan Su on 15 June. Dr Su has several roles – she is
the General Director of the Nanotechnology Research Centre at the Industrial Technology
Research Institute (ITRI www.itri.org.tw), which is similar to CSIRO. She is also Co-Director
of the National Nanoscience and Nanotechnology Program and Board Director of TANIDA,
where she has responsibility for international business. Also present in the meeting were Jane
Niall, Clive Davenport and Jane Lam (Austrade).
Dr Su also explained that ITRI underwent a re-organisation in 2006 and has moved to a more
service-oriented approach. Taiwan is currently shifting manufacturing off-shore, mostly to
China, and the Taiwanese service e sector is projected to grow. Accordingly, ITRI are sending
their senior managers to IBM for training in how to leverage ICT to provide better service.
Due to extensive travel commitments, it is unlikely that Dr Su will be able to attend COMS.
However, she was interested to hear about ICONN, and would be a worthy addition to the list of
presenters for the research program.
Action required: Copy Dr Su on the email to Prof Wu and Dr Song (TR).
ANF Executive Meeting – A meeting of the ANF Executive Committee was held in the evening
of 15 June. The ANF is currently comprised of 13 economies in the Asia Pacific region
including Australia, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Korea, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand,
Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam.
Australia was represented at the meeting by Jane Niall, Clive Davenport and Tina Rankovic.
Jane Niall discussed the forthcoming COMS event. Jane extended an invitation to the ANF for it
to hold a meeting of its Commercialisation Working Group at COMS, and offered 3 nights free
accommodation to one delegate from each of the other 12 countries.
Recommendations:
It is not recommended that Australia be represented at Taiwan Nano on an annual basis.
Attendance for specific reasons such as to attend other key meetings and/or promote Australian
events, as was the case this year, has merit and should be considered on a case by case basis.
Tina Rankovic
Chief Executive Officer, ANBF
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