Dr. Christian Mittermayr from Lambda GmbH is the Coordinator of the EU research project DINAMICS, involving major European stakeholders from the relevant branches, end users and production system suppliers, ICT providers, SMEs and academic and research institutes.

Finnish researchers have designed tiny nano-particles which can deliver a specific drug to cells of the inner ear. Once brought into position, this drug helps to repair damaged cells .

An artificial device in the form of a retinal prosthesis can replace dead photoreceptor cells by electrically stimulating the remaining neurons. Two examples of retinal prostheses are digital camera-type electrode arrays and photodiode arrays .

Due to different anatomic and physiological barriers it is hard to treat hearing disorders by using conventional systemic drug delivery. Therefore scientists are investigating different ways to locally apply drugs using nanoparticles.

In the last five years 25 European research institutions have joint forces to develop a rechargeable battery which uses lithium nano-particles.

During a 24-month period the project ProNano (Promoting Technology Transfer of Nanosciences, Nanotechnologies, Materials and new Production Technologies) is funded by the European Commission.

A significant challenge for researchers in the field of rechargeable batteries is to construct batteries which can be charged and discharged quickly with only minimal energy capacity loss .

Within the EU-funded research project N2P (Nano To Production) researchers work on nanostructured surfaces of solar cells.

The sun has enough power to supply the whole earth with energy. But as long as renewable energy is more expensive than energy produced by coal or nuclear plants, solar energy won’t be first choice.

A consortium connected to the project ProNano coaches researchers to reach the market with their innovations, by technology licensing or by creating new spin out companies.

Membranes for water purification are used in many applications and different types of membranes are being developed at the moment. No membrane can filter and purify water entirely, but improvements using novel kinds of membranes are made.

Prof Ivo Rangelow from the University of Ilmenau is the Scientific Vice Coordinator of the EU research project PRONANO. Researchers of the European project PRONANO have developed a new technology to examine surfaces at the atomic level.

Dr. Brigitte Angres and Dr. Helmut Wurst earlier worked on the development of synthetic hydrogels in 3-D cell culture at the NMI Natural and Medical Sciences Institute at the University of Tübingen in Germany, with financial support from the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF).

In the 21st century several countries have suffered great losses after terrorist attacks. Although the risk of bioterrorist attacks or accidental contamination of our water supply network is low, the consequences could be fatal.

The technology uses several nano-biological sensors to monitor the presence of several bioterrorism agents in drinking water.

Many researchers culture cells in flat dishes, two-dimensional culture systems. A disadvantage is that the cells behave differently than they would in a living organism.

Researchers from the Institute of Micro- and Nanotechnologies in Ilmenau, Germany have developed the new scanning device with a set of highly sensitive needles or cantilevers , each of which is only a few microns wide.

A cantilever is a very thin single needle currently used for quality control at the nanoscale, but to improve and speed up the process scientists are developing an array of needles, a cantilever array, functioning simultaneously.

Researchers who need help with bringing their innovations to the market can get assistance from established offices of technology transfer .

How is it possible to improve memory chips? Improvements in memory chips are now only possible by bringing in new materials that can be laid down with the high quality needed.