The second Nanoweek conference took place on Monday, January 31st and Tuesday February 1st 2011 in Carton House, Maynooth. The conference was organised by NanoNet Ireland which comprises of INSPIRE and the Competence Centre for Applied Nanotechnology (CCAN) and was attended by 190 delegates with 75 posters presented. The co-chairs for the event were Prof Edmond Magner, MSSI, University of Limerick and Dr Alan Hynes, Executive Director, CCAN.
The focus of conference was to articulate the commercialisation journey from the research lab to the production line and attracted speakers and delegates from all over Ireland – academic, industrial and funding agency – as well as speakers from the United Kingdom and United States.

The conference was opened by Mr Sean Dorgan, Chair of NanoNet Ireland

Speakers included:

• Peter Dobson, Founder of Oxonica and Oxford Biosensors Ltd., Director of Begbroke Science Park.
• Prof Jonathan Coleman, CRANN Principal Investigator, Trinity College Dublin
• Dr David Corr, the CEO of NTera
• Prof Bill Milne, Head of Electrical Division and Electronic Devices and Materials Group,  University of Cambridge and INSPIRE Scientific Advisory Board Chair
• Dr Mazhar Bari CEO and Co-founder SolarPrint Ltd
• Prof Jim McLaughlin Director of Nanotechnology and Advanced Materials Research Institute at the University of Limerick, founder of Intelesens Ltd and INSPIRE Oversight Board member.
• Prof Daniel Morse, Prof of Molecular Genetics and Biochemistry, University of California at Santa Barbara and INSPIRE Scientific Advisory Board member.
• Dr Michael Ryan, Scientific Programme Manager, IC and ET Directorate, Science Foundation Ireland.

The standard of poster entries was very high we would like to thank Analog Devices for sponsoring the session.  The prizes were presented by Dr Denis Doyle, Analog Devices Inc. Fellow and the winners were as follows:

1. Natalie Haustrup, National Centre for Laser Applications, NUI Galway.
2. Miguel Cavadas, REQUIMTE, Dept. Química, FCT/UNL, 2829‐516 Caparica, Portugal.
3. Des Brennan, Life Sciences Interface Group, Tyndall National Institute, University College Cork.
4. Jennifer Stopford, The RINCE Institute, Dublin City University.
5. Quoc BinH Dang Ha, Surface Engineering Research Group, University College Dublin.

A lot of hard behind-the-scenes work went into the organising of this conference with the organising committee chaired by Ms Mary Claire O’Regan from Tyndall National Institute and INSPIRE Executive Committee member.

The organising committee was as follows:
 

• Prof. Edmond Magner, MSSI, UL and INSPIRE
• Dr Alan Hynes, CCAN
• Ms Mary Claire O’Regan, Tyndall National Institute and INSPIRE
• Dr Paul Miney, CRANN, TCD and INSPIRE
• Ms Mary Colcough, CRANN, TCD
• Ms Kate McSweeney, CCAN
The organising committee would like to thank our sponsors:

Analog Devices, Science Foundation Ireland, Jeol, CCAN and INSPIRE.
 

We hope to see you in 2013.

Pictured at the Nanoweek 2011 Conference are (left to right): Mr Leonard Hobbs, Intel Ireland and INSPIRE Oversight Board; Prof Bill Milne, University of Cambridge and INSPIRE Scientific Advisory Board Chair; Dr Mazhar Barry, CEO of SolarPrint; Dr Paul Miney, CRANN, TCD, INSPIRE Executive Committee Chair and Oversight Board Secretary; Prof Jim McLaughlin, NIBEC Director, University of Ulster and INSPIRE Oversight Board