Access to advanced cleanrooms is crucial in order for companies to develop new products based on nanotechnology. This has prompted Chalmers MC2 Nanofabrication Laboratory and Lund Nano Lab in Sweden and DTU Danchip in Denmark to collaborate on user education and knowledge exchange.
First on the agenda is a process where the cleanrooms standardize their user education programs. This will make it easier for both researchers and companies to work in different cleanrooms in the region, once they have received their “driving license”.The cleanrooms will also launch an exchange program which will enable staff members to spend time working at the different facilities, gaining experience of new equipment and processes. The cooperation between the three cleanrooms has been initiated by Nano Connect Scandinavia.
Going by train from Gothenburg to Copenhagen, you pass several world class nanotechnology research institutions in just a few hours. That makes Western Scandinavia unique. This type of cooperation can strengthen the region further and make it easier for more companies to take advantage of the possibilities that nanotechnology represent, says Johan Borgström, project manager for Nano Connect Scandinavia.
Nano Connect Scandinavia is an EU-funded collaboration project involving eight universities and institutes, as well as five regional public bodies, in Sweden and Denmark. The objective is to boost nanoscience and nanotechnology in the region and to increase the commercialization of research.
Cleanrooms is an area where everybody stands to gain from an increased cooperation across national borders. But we have also noticed an interest from companies, researchers and authorities to work together on other aspects of nanotechnology. One example is nano safety where we will launch a Scandinavian network in the beginning of 2010, says Johan Borgström.
