On October 25th, the CEOs of Krohne and Nexperia signed the first cooperation agreement with TU Delft in the framework of the Nano Engineering Research Initiative (NERI). This means that NERI has now been officially launched. “Nano has the potential to innovate our instruments, so that’s the reason why we’re going to work together with PME researchers in the area of nanotechnology,” says André Boer, general manager of Krohne Altometer and chairman of Holland Instrumentation.
In the framework of the official launching of NERI, PME organised the Nano Engineering Inspiration Event this week. More than 25 PME researchers engaged with more than 65 representatives from about 50 companies and institutes that are curious about the possibilities of nanotechnology for their products and business.
They familiarised themselves with NERI’s key areas of focus:
- Engineered Functional Material Structures
- Smart Polymer Microfluidics
- Nanomaterials and Devices
- Precision Instruments
Nanotechnology has the potential to have a major impact on our industry and society. That’s why the PME Department, driven by the theme ‘nano from lab to app’, established the Nano Engineering Research Initiative. In this initiative, researchers are working together with companies and knowledge institutes to develop new machines, materials and functions in which the short scale of length makes the difference.
Marcel Tichem and Gaby Offermans, the programme managers at NERI, view this agreement as the beginning of a fruitful and long-term partnership with industrial parties. ‘The strength of NERI is that we want to build relationships with companies that are driven by content. How can a given company benefit from “nano”? Based on concrete themes we will build consortia that will work on the generic knowledge, which will subsequently be further developed by the participating partners for their own areas of application. If everyone is equally open, it will result in surprising project definitions.’
Please see this link for an impression of the day.
