Overview

Listen to Nanyang Technological University's (NTU) Alfred Tok explain what he does, and it becomes clear just how mighty the miniscule nanoparticle is. As the Associate Professor goes through a host of research projects that include colour-changing camouflage materials, advanced sports equipment, artificial muscle and bone, biodegradable heart stents and novel solar cells, you begin to realise why some estimate that the nanotechnology sector will be worth US$1.6 trillion by the year 2013.

It's a figure as impressive as those that can be applied to nanotechnology itself: a nanoparticle is so small that one million could fit on the head of a pin. It would be possible to slide 1,250 carbon nanotubes - one of the strongest structures on earth - inside a single human blood cell. Some nanofibres are over 1,000 times smaller than a single strand of human hair.

Though they may be small, nanomaterials can be applied on a massive scale. Nanoparticles can be arranged to make films or materials that resist colonisation by bacteria. In a more domestic application, they can create windows that stay clean on their own, while in the medical field they can be used to deliver medicine in the body, sending cancer drugs precisely to the tumours they need to attack.

Carbon nanotubes have created the world's smallest radio and, at Singapore's Institute of Manufacturing Technology, research is being conducted on a device that uses the tiny tubes to detect heroin in the human body.

It's easy to get swept up in the enthusiasm for nanotechnology. However, as is the case with virtually all burgeoning fields of science, the nanotech sector has its share of concerns that stem from the need for specific and customised equipment and infrastructure, to tapping into unknown development and production grounds to barriers to the commercialisation of the products.

According to Dr. Tok, who heads the Materials Technology Division in NTU's School of Materials Science & Engineering, one of the challenges is the fact that the true potential of nanotechnology still remains largely untapped. "For example, if I want to put a nanoparticle into a deodorant or tennis racket so that it can sell as nanotechnology, well, that's what a lot of people are doing. But I think they haven't really harnessed the true potential of what that nanoparticle can do in the product," he explains.

A need for two kinds of resources

Another nano-challenge is that in certain markets around the world, the nanotech sector is outpacing the people who can work in the field. To deal with this, Singapore has adopted a novel, top-up approach in which private sector employees can be courted to work in universities. Because university salaries are typically lower than in private industry, the government, through organisations like A*STAR (the Agency for Science, Technology and Research), can step in and make up the difference so that the flow between business and education personnel remains wide open.

The university environment is also made attractive to PhD students, who are able to work as full-time employees of the college while completing their doctoral work. Dr. Tok also indicates that a lot of NTU graduates eventually wind up working for the companies that cooperate with the university, thus helping partner talent with need.

Human resources, however, are only one side of the equation. In order for a country to excel in the nano sector, physical resources for working on the micro level must also be present. Yet the cost for such infrastructure can often be a deterrent. From Dr. Tok's perspective, "nanomaterials is quite an investment-heavy field, which means a lot of developing countries do not have the resources to conduct world-class materials-related research. It is therefore crucial to have the right infrastructure in place for companies to kick-start their research work without the capabilities of partners. If you look at the labs we have, I can safely say that we are better equipped than many of top universities around the world."

Facts on the ground:

Public versus private

Often in the nano sector, private companies fail to get the funding they need to do the necessary research, while public institutions working in nanotechnology remain woefully under-funded.

Another issue is that private-sector work is often driven by the company's bottom-line and profit concerns, whereas universities have more freedom to follow creative hunches and travel the paths their research opens for them. Not only does this help fuel breakthroughs, it also gives researchers the freedom to make serendipitous discoveries.

Much of this flexibility comes from the way Singapore is funding nanotech research and development. Dr. Tok reveals that "there are a lot of funding bodies that belong to the government like A*STAR (the Agency for Science, Technology and Research) and the NRF (National Research Foundation) that provide thematic and non-thematic funding. This means that both the funding body and the researcher can propose a research theme, according to strategic needs, for funding."

That's not to say that there isn't a great deal of cooperation between Singapore's public learning institutions and the private sector. Dr. Tok says that there are many mechanisms available for companies to work with Singapore's universities. Some come to Singapore to seek out novel technologies for real-world needs, some set up a satellite lab in the universities, and others partner with universities to develop new technologies through joint efforts. These usually lead to these companies setting up their R&D arm in the university, and eventually setting up a permanent base in Singapore.

From microscope to market

Still another challenge facing nanotech researchers is that it can be difficult to get their discoveries out of the lab and into the marketplace. Nanotechnology is still relatively new and both consumers and other industry fields may fail to understand it. This can create barriers to adaptation both commercially, where business might feel more comfortable using tried-and-tested methods to produce their goods and services, and in the private sector, where shoppers might be wary of new technologies in their products.

Public-private partnership

Helping to solve one of nanotech's challenges - connecting the public and private sectors - Singapore's National Research Foundation made an S$10 million commitment to create a fund that invests in nanotechnology here known as NanoStart Asia. Says managing director Andreas Kroell, "The quality of the projects we see (in Singapore) is, in general, very good. We find many projects that are very mature. This means there already is a product ready for the market, and so we can focus on commercialisation instead of further R&D after our investment. Besides this, the general ease of doing business in Singapore and the reliable business and legal environments are fantastic aspects for us as investors."

The company has wagered on the success of nanotech in teeth-straightening braces by investing in a Singaporean company called BioMers. Kroell divulges, "BioMers is a company with a fantastic product with huge potential. They have developed a polymer composite technology with which they can make translucent orthodontic braces, a real breakthrough product in an industry lacking innovations. While the company is still at the beginning of commercialising this product, the market potential and interest are large and we are optimistic that this will be a real success story for the Singaporean med-tech industry."

The Singapore difference:

Cross-discipline cooperation

Not only is it easy for the public and private sectors to work well together in Singapore, but the country also provides also easy ground upon which companies from various disciplines can share needs and solutions.

Leading this charge in the nanotechnology field is the Industrial Consortium on Nanoimprint (ICON) a multi-agency effort formed by A*STAR to help bring nanotechnologies to market. Professor Low Teck Seng, A*STAR's Deputy Managing Director and Executive Director, Science and Engineering Research Council said, "A*STAR is keenly aware of our vast technological capabilities and the need for transferring these technologies to industry, which ultimately benefits the public at large. Industry consortia are but one of the many avenues A*STAR uses to shorten the route, and timeframe, that our research takes to reach your homes."

In an example of how the group is helping to transfer nanotech across various industries, ICON has recently developed anti-bacterial "skins" that can be used on ships, in lenses and in medical devices. The technology not only shows how ideas can be borrowed from one industry to another - it shows that technology itself can borrow - in this case from nature. The materials were developed in imitation of the skins of animals like dolphins and whales that have anti-fouling properties in them at the nano-level.

ICON's Dr. Low Hong Yee explains that this type of 'biomimetic' work has eco-friendly benefits as well: "By incorporating these surfaces into commercially used, engineering polymers, we can add functionalities without resorting to changing the chemical composition of the polymer. This process is generally a dry process, with minimum use of toxic solvents and waste - hence some communities consider it a 'green' technology. Such surface functionalities are relevant to a wide range of applications ranging from microfluidic devices, optical films, sensors, biomedical devices and consumer care products."

Ready-made for collaboration

Of the opening of Bayer MaterialScience's new Functional Films Research Centre in Singapore (its first research center in Asia Pacific and outside Germany), managing director Marcus Yim added his voice to other industry leaders praising Singapore's extensive network of labs and industry leaders. "By collaborating with a network of research organizations and business partners in Singapore and Asia Pacific," he said, "we will put to use the innovative ideas to fast-track products for tomorrow's markets like automotives, electronics and displays." Bayer is currently working on the development of functionalised films that can find applications in Singapore's extensive electronics sector.

Much in the same way a tiny nanoparticle can have a massive impact on fields of science as diverse as cosmetics and cancer treatments, the diminutive country of Singapore is staged to become a major force in the development and rollout of nanotechnology applications.

One of the main ways in which Singapore turns microscopic dreams into large realities and meets the challenge of bringing nanotechnology to market is through Exploit Technologies, the strategic marketing and commercialisation arm of A*STAR. By partnering with corporate entities, Exploit Technologies creates a bridge over which materials invented in the lab can roll out into the marketplace.

One recent success story is Tera-Barrier Films, a company that was jointly founded by Senthil Ramada and Mark Auch, in cooperation with Exploit Technologies. It was spun off from another of A*STAR's arms (the Institute of Materials Research and Engineering) in 2009, and has just succeeded in securing an investment from KISCO LTD, a company that brings a wide range of materials solutions to their customers.

Tera-Barrier has solved a problem that has plagued the barrier film industry for years: water permeability. Barrier films are used to protect sensitive electronics like OLEDs and solar cells from moisture. However, because of small defects in the films, water molecules invariably seep through. Tera-Barrier Films has solved this problem by plugging these defects with nanoparticles.

The result is a product that certainly got KISCO LTD's attention. "We have been working with Tera-Barrier Films since before it spun-off from A*STAR, and continued to monitor its progress in bringing its barrier technology to the market," reveals Koichi Takeda, Director of KISCO LTD's Electronic Materials Division. "We are very impressed by the achievements that Tera-Barrier Films has made in such a short time, and believe that it is a good time for us to invest in the company and be part of its growth."

In addition to spinning companies out of the public sector into the commercial arena and thus helping to bring nanotech products to market, the country also fosters an ecosystem in which big companies and SMEs can exist side-by-side with consultancy firms and venture capitalists that lets them share ideas, resources and talent.

Singapore also has robust intellectual property protections, an extensive banking system, well-funded universities and governmental investment programmes that foster both experimentation and pragmatism, companies looking for a home in which to look into the future of nanotech should be able to find it there.

One such company is the Materials Science division of Bayer whose Christian Haessler says that some of the reasons the company decided to base part of its operations in Singapore are its "highly skilled workforce; fantastic R&D infrastructure - especially for nanotechnology; the legal security; the ease of communication within our R&D network; the ability to communicate in English and flexible government support." Haessler also said that he appreciated "how technology is brought to the marketplace in Singapore - most importantly by using an early established network with partners and customers in the key markets."

Also, because of its strong biopharmaceutical and medical technologies sectors, robust energy and chemical industries, a high number of precision engineering companies, and its position as one of the key semi-conductor producers in the world, Singapore offers a fertile ground for nanotechnologies to find their way out of the lab and into a wide range of cross-industry applications. It provides an environment in which the super-small can grow into world-changing applications that will help Singapore become a goliath in the world of nanotech.