Deputy Prime Minister Bělobrádek praises progress in the nano field
The Czech Republic may become a world leader in nanotechnologies, Deputy Prime Minister Pavel Bělobrádek, in charge of science, research and innovations told a conference on Czech nano-science.
“Nanotechnologies have an enormous potential. We are lucky that some Czech firms and researchers are active in this sphere,” Bělobrádek said.
He said the Czech Republic should focus not only on traditional industrial fields some of which depend on energies and raw materials very much, but that it should also move on along a path suitable for the 21st century.
Jiří Kůs, head of the Czech Association of Nanotechnology Industry, said the Czech Republic was one of the incubators where nanotechnologies started.
“It is a question what we are going to do about it now,” Kůs said.
He said nanotechnology is a technological change where a man finally can manipulate matter on the molecular level.
In the Czech Republic, about 40 firms and several research teams have been using nanotechnologies, which started developing only in the 1990s.
Bělobrádek said the Czech Republic had many “nano” patents, but that foreign products are often more popular than domestic ones.
Christos Tokamanis, the representative of the European Commission Directorate-General for Research and Innovations, said nanotechnologies are an important competitive instrument.
Czech nanotechnology projects include a nano coat of paint applied to walls and ceilings that remove microorganisms from the air in the room or a nanofiber electrical conductive material that can kill viruses and bacteria in contaminated water.
