Nanotechnology Forum Provides Insight in Future Medicine

The German state of Hessen is also known as “Germany’s pharmacy” because of its strong chemical and pharmaceutical industry and research landscape. “It is our declared aim to make Hessen a leading nanotechnology location,” said Klaus-Dieter Jäger, Head of the Department of Scientific Promotion and Technology at Hessen’s Ministry of Economics, at the opening ceremony for the 6th Nanotechnology Forum that took place last week Thursday at the Congress Park Hanau near Frankfurt.

The aim of the forum was to boost the networking of nanotech users and suppliers in Hessen and beyond, and to help advance the commercialisation of product and process developments. Currently about 150 companies and 80 research groups are engaged in nanotechnology in Hessen alone.

According to Jäger, “Medicine and pharmaceuticals are the fields in which we see the greatest potential for nanotechnology.” The age of “nanomedicine”, he claimed, could be said to have had its beginnings in January 2008, when authorisation was granted for the first time to a medicine that had been optimised by nanotechnology. Even though nanoscale excipients had already been successfully used for decades, this new drug marked a further stage of development.

During the course of the day selected keynote presentations offered the 250 participants an overview of the importance of the nanosciences for the medical and pharmeutical industries. Furthermore, at the exhibition “Marktplatz Nanotech” that ran parallel to the presentations, more than 30 companies, universities, institutes and networks presented their products, services and research projects.

Tags: Nanotechnology Forum Hessen