VELLORE: Nanotechnology is not merely a scientific discipline but a revolution operating at the smallest scale, Minister for Transport and Electricity S S Sivasankar said on Tuesday, citing Bawendi quantum dots that are typically one to 10 nanometres in size, nearly 10,000 times smaller than the diameter of a human hair.
Delivering the inaugural address as chief guest at the third International Conference on Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (ICNAN’25) at VIT University here, the minister said nanotechnology enables us to visualise and engineer matter to address some of the world’s most pressing challenges.
Addressing a packed Anna Auditorium, which included school students apart from delegates, Sivasankar said the conference reflected a strong global belief that nanotechnology would define the scientific and economic future of the world. “History clearly shows that nations which lead in nanotechnology today will lead the industries of tomorrow,” he said.
Listing potential applications, he referred to advanced nanomaterials for clean and renewable energy, nano-enabled diagnostics and therapeutics in healthcare, high-performance energy storage systems such as supercapacitors and batteries, smart sensors for intelligent and sustainable transportation, and circular economy solutions through nanoscale waste recycling.
The conference is being organised by VIT’s Centre for Nanotechnology Research, established in 2008 to support academic and research programmes in the field.
VIT Founder and Chancellor G Viswanathan said about 300 participants from 20 countries had registered for the four-day conference, being held from December 16 to 19. One of the highlights, he added, would be the presentation of awards to outstanding researchers.
Nobel laureate in Chemistry and Professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), USA, Dr Moungi G Bawendi, the guest of honour, said nanoscience involved learning how to manipulate matter at the atomic scale to shape and engineer it, discover new properties and invent materials with diverse applications. Though the field had its origins decades ago, he said nanoscience and nanotechnology had witnessed acceleration over the past 30 years, adding that nurturing students’ intellectual growth in science and technology was crucial.