2014 has become a banner year for the nanotechnology community. We have seen M&A, liquidity exits and new start-ups joining our nanotechnology community!
On May 6-7th we completed our 12th Annual NanoBCA DC Roundtable in our nation’s capital. We kicked off the day at the offices of K&L Gates with a presentation by Paul Stimers, Partner of K&L Gates and NanoBCA Public Policy Advisor. We proceeded to Capitol Hill to the Dirksen Senate Office Building where we heard presentations from NanoBCA Legacy Foundation members, Graphene Stakeholders Association members and new NanoBCA members.
Scott Rickert, Ph.D., CEO of Nanofilm and Director of PEN, Inc., began the private sector presentations with the announcement of the future activities of Nanofilm and PEN, Inc.
NanoBCA Legacy member, Jess Jankowski, CEO of Nanophase – NANX, updated us on recent successes. Nanophase is committed to building a company that offers value and transparency to its shareholders.
Jim Phillips, Chairman/CEO of NanoMech, Inc. updated us on the emerging markets and their recent Edison Award. Congratulations to Jim, Ajay and the NanoMech Team.
Anil Diwan, Ph.D., President & Chairman of NanoViricides, Inc. – NNVC, gave a presentation announcing their expansion into a 20,000 sq. ft. facility. NanoViricides won the IAIR Award as Best North American Company for Leadership in the Nanomedicine Sector.
Craig Bandes, President & CEO of Pixelligent Technologies shared with the community their recent successes. The Pixelligent story, with Craig at the helm, is the greatest come-back story of any company from our nano community. Congratulations to Craig and his team!
We heard two presentations from Graphene Stakeholders Association members, Mike Patterson, CEO of Graphene Frontiers and Gary Economo, CEO of Grafoid, discussing the markets for their products.
Next up were three presentations from new NanoBCA members: Mark Shaw, CEO of UltraTech International; Carleton Hsia, Ph.D., Chairman & CEO, NanoBlood LLC; and Matthew Putman, CEO of Nanotronics Imaging.
Rounding out the morning we had in-depth presentations from:
Lynn L. Bergeson, Managing Partner of Bergeson & Campbell P.C. and NanoBCA EHS Chairperson, offering her guidance on EHS;
Dr. Gilberto M. (Ybet) Villacorta, Chair of the Intellectual Property Department of the Washington, DC Office of Foley & Lardner LLP, discussing the importance of Intellectual Property;
William Morris, CEO/Chairman, Emerging Technologies Ventures, LLC, spoke about investing in companies specializing in commercializing nanotechnology products.
I would like to thank Foley & Lardner, LLP, NanoBCA Legacy member, for the use of their conference center on Wednesday, May 7th. Dr. Gilberto M. (Ybet) Villacorta kicked off our Wednesday session observing the past and looking at future trends in the nanotechnology community. Next, we had comprehensive presentations from the following government officials:
- Dr. Mihail C. Roco, Senior Advisor for Nanotechnology, National Science Foundation
- Dr. Altaf (Tof) Carim, Assistant Director for Nanotechnology, Office of Science and Technology Policy, Executive Office of the President
- Lloyd Whitman, Interim Director, NNCO
- Robert J. Celotta, Director, CNST, Center Office
Lastly, our final set of speakers on Wednesday were the following:
- Governor George F. Allen, Then, Senator Allen was the co-sponsor of the National Nanotechnology Initiative legislation in 2003.
- Mostafa Analoui, Ph.D., Head of Healthcare and Life Sciences, Livingston Securities. Mostafa updated us on the biotechnology industry.
- The Honorable Kelly H. Carnes, President & CEO, TechVision21. As the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Technology Policy, Kelly Carnes addressed many high-profile technology issues, including Federal R&D, innovation and competiveness policy. Kelly’s presentation explained the current R&D environment.
- Philip H. Lippel, Ph.D., Assistant Director, MIT Washington Office. Phil highlighted advanced manufacturing activities at MIT.
