SNI won a closed tender to perform a study for the Chief Scientist and INNI, designed to examine the difficulties of Nano technology transfer from the academy to implementation in the Israeli industry and to propose possible ways to overcome them.
The study was based on structured interviews with stakeholders, survey distribution among researchers of the Nano centers and the Israel Nano conference participants, collection of data from the nanotechnology centers regarding the scope of the nanotechnology research and its outputs.
The study indicates that there is a potential for commercialization and there are ‘success stories’ of Nano technology transfer from the academy to industry.
The study also identified four major difficulties in the process of technology transfer to industry:
1. The main problem is in the transition phase from the academy to the industry (The missing middle) which has no structured process for Nano technology transfer from academy to industry and suffers from lack of investments.
2. Difficulties associated with the stages of R&D in the academy.
3. Difficulties associated with the continued development stages and transfer to manufacturing industry.
4. Lack of regulation and Nano-safety information that passes through the entire process.
According to the study, focus should be given to Technology Transfer Phase from academy to industry. This phase should include translation of the research into products and assisting the industry to absorb the technology.
In addition, a regulation in the field of nanotechnology that will suit Israel should be adopted.
