Nano Cluster Devices Signs Joint Venture

Wednesday 20 October 2004

Nano Cluster Devices Signs Joint Venture With US Company

A major development has been announced today by a Christchurch-based nanotechnology company that has signed a joint venture agreement with a leading US nanotechnology business.

Nano Cluster Devices, formed last year in Christchurch, has signed a joint venture agreement with NanoDynamics, a leading nanotechnology business and manufacturer based in Buffalo, New York. A Delaware-based corporation, Nano Cluster Devices Inc, has been formed as the joint venture vehicle.

“The partnership with NanoDynamics is a major step forward in our strategic plan to introduce our enabling technology to a broad range of industrial partners,” says Nano Cluster Devices Executive Director Dr Simon Brown.

Nano Cluster Devices was formed to commercialise cluster deposition nanotechnology, and to introduce the technology to world markets as quickly as possible.

NanoDynamics will be utilizing its worldwide network to commercialise the technology developed by Nano Cluster Devices, and under the joint venture agreement is responsible for sales and discovering the most appropriate applications. It is expected to target semiconductor companies, consumer applications, aerospace, biotech and industrial manufacturers.

“The Nano Cluster Devices team in Christchurch will be responsible for further advancement of the cluster deposition technology and development of commercial devices,” says Dr Brown.

Canterprise, the University of Canterbury’s commercial centre, together with the inventors, owns half of Nano Cluster Devices, with the other half owned by a group of private investors through investment company Nuon Ltd. Nuon earlier this year raised and paid $2.75 million for its half-share of Nano Cluster Devices. Dr Simon Brown and his team at the University of Canterbury have developed a way to get clusters of atoms to form into very thin electrically conducting wires, called nanowires. Their technique is radically different from how other researchers around the world are making nanowires.

Canterprise applied for and has already been granted an international patent for the cluster deposition nanotechnology. Individual country patents are in the process of being applied for.

When a scientist from Nano Cluster Devices and a director of Nuon visited NanoDynamics in Buffalo and demonstrated the Canterbury research, NanoDynamics management could immediately see the potential of the cluster deposition nanotechnology.

“NanoDynamics has extensive contacts in target markets and is prepared to leverage all available resources to champion cluster deposition technology,” says Dr Brown.

“This is fantastic for Nano Cluster Devices and for New Zealand. We are being taken very seriously in a field that is attracting worldwide attention. Once again, New Zealand is showing that is a player in technology research and development,” concludes Dr Brown.

ENDS

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