Taiwan is proving a magnet for overseas academic and trade delegations looking to learn more about the nation's burgeoning nanotechnology industry, an official from the nation's top nanotech research center said yesterday.
"Many overseas delegations are visiting us to understand Taiwan's position in the nanotechnology industry," Tsai Pin-pin (
Nanotechnology involves the manipulation of atoms and molecules on the scale of the nanometer -- one-billionth of a meter.
Some theoretical applications of the technology are the creation of tiny robots that can hunt down and destroy cancer cells, or new computer storage devices that reduce corporate storage disks to the size of a postage stamp.
But the scale of nanotech research needs international cooperation, one expert said.
"To do good science these days, it takes a multi-disciplinary team, especially in nano-science," said Karan Kaler, director of the Calgary Institute of Nanotechnology in western Canada.
Kaler is part of a 21-member nanotech delegation brought to Taiwan by Canada's Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade.
The fact-finding mission to Japan, South Korea and Taiwan aims to develop partnerships between Canadian academics and Asian researchers to accelerate developments in nanotechy, Dave Murphy, trade and investment director at the Canadian Trade Office in Taipei said.
"Ultimately, the objective is to develop projects and relationships that can derive economic and social benefits," Murphy said. "We're looking at [nanotech] in a practical and pragmatic way, and that's establishing a better understanding of the programs and activities that are underway on both sides."
For four days the delegation is meeting with nanotech experts from the National Science Council, ITRI, National Tsing-hua University and National Chiao-tung University. Professors from different fields of nanotech are giving presentations on the developments in their specific fields of research to find out if local researchers are interested, or able, to cooperate in their research. The delegation will travel to South Korea tomorrow and return to Canada on Saturday.
Hamid Mostaghaci, the leader of the delegation, estimates that the nanotech industry will be worth US$1 trillion within 20 years. The Canadian government has already provided C$120 million (US$81 million) to the Canadian National Institute for Nanotechnology in Edmonton, C$110 million (US$74 million) in NanoQuebec, which is an initiative linking industry and academia in the Province of Quebec, and C$200 million (US$135 million) in the Canadian Fund for Innovation, a fund awarded to nanotech researchers.
Some delegations may be headhunting in Taiwan. Professor Federico Rosei of the Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique at the University of Quebec is looking for 11 new nanotech professors to work in his labs next year.
Taiwan's National Science Council and the Canadian National Research Council have a collaborative nanotech-research program, Murphy said. Small delegations have visited Canada as part of this collaboration over the past six years.
But the nano-science community needs to keep the public informed "of the potential for what is good and not so good in the nano-sciences," said Robert Sing, administrative director of NanoQuebec.
The "gray goo" theory, popularized in Michael Crichton's novel Prey, where nano-robots turn all matter on the planet to mush, has already begun to alarm the public.
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
RECORD-BREAKING: TSMC’s net profit last quarter beat market expectations by expanding 8.9% and it was the best first-quarter profit in the chipmaker’s history Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which counts Nvidia Corp as a key customer, yesterday said that artificial intelligence (AI) server chip revenue is set to more than double this year from last year amid rising demand. The chipmaker expects the growth momentum to continue in the next five years with an annual compound growth rate of 50 percent, TSMC chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) told investors yesterday. By 2028, AI chips’ contribution to revenue would climb to about 20 percent from a percentage in the low teens, Wei said. “Almost all the AI innovators are working with TSMC to address the
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”