Small or large companies and tech-savvy entrepreneurs that want to bring nanotechnology products to world markets can now access technical and business services thanks to a new leading-edge centre in Edmonton's Research Park in Canada. This new center - the first of its kind in Canada - would give entrepreneurs a place to turn ideas into viable, market-ready products.

The Alberta Center for Advanced Microsystems and Nanotechnology Products (ACAMP) is supported by $11.5 million in total funding with contributions of $8 million from the Alberta Government and $3.5 million from Canada's Western Economic Diversification. The center would support the province's growing nanotechnology sector in three critical areas of commercialization - packaging and assembly, business and product development and marketing.

Doug Horner, Alberta's Minister of Advanced Education and Technology said that Alberta's global reputation for nanotechnology research has been further enhanced as it would now be recognized as a place for putting technology on the store shelves and into peoples' lives.

Alberta produced nanotechnology products which find applications in vital sectors such as medicine, resources and information and communications technology. Products made by Alberta companies include: lab on a chip microchips that speed medical diagnoses; nano-particle coatings to enhance the service life of earth moving machine blades; motion sensors for use in electronics; and, numerous other products that could impact the lives of Albertans.

ACAMP would identify commercial market opportunities in global markets and promote Alberta's nanotechnology capabilities nationally and internationally. An ACAMP team would work with start-up and established technology companies to coordinate product packaging and assembly in-house or through the University of Alberta's NanoFab, the University of Calgary's Advanced Microsystems Integration Facility or the National Institute for Nanotechnology of the National Research Council (NINT). ACAMP would also align its product development activities with the Microsystems Technology Research Initiative and Alberta Ingenuity's nano works program.

ACAMP was the result of a collaborative effort between industry, government and academia to create a platform for product development activities in the province, said Bruce Alton, Chair of the ACAMP Board of Directors.

It is noteworthy, that the Alberta government introduced the $178-million Action Plan for Bringing Technology to Market. This plan included numerous resources that companies and technopreneurs could access to help move ideas into the marketplace in concert with ACAMP's services. Alberta's $130-million nanotechnology strategy, announced in 2007, aimed to capture two per cent of the world's nanotechnology market by the year 2020, projected to be about $20 billion in annual commercial activity.