DURGAM – The NC Center of Innovation Network (COIN) recently hosted an event that featured BNNano, Kyma Technologies, Voxel Innovations, and a representative from the Research Triangle Nanotechnology Network (RTNN).  Panelists talked about how their nano products and research are impacting every aspect of our lives, both today and tomorrow.

Keith Evans, CEO of Kyma Technologies described how his company has been engineering new machines capable of producing new and novel advanced materials that are being used to produce the substrates and nanocrystals in highly sensitive sensors and advanced solar cells that will be deployed not only globally, but in space.

Steve Wilcenski, the Founder of BNNano, discussed how his company has perfected a way to manufacture, at an industrial scale, Boron Nitride Nanotubes that are 100 times stronger than steel, 4 times tougher than spider silk, 17 times tougher than Kevlar, oxidation resistant to 800C, and electrically insulating having applications across industries including textiles, aerospace, biotechnology, and many more.

Daniel Herrington, Founder and CEO of Voxel Innovations, described Voxel’s Pulsed Electrochemical Machining Process that enables unique geometries, faster machining times, and better tolerances than competing manufacturing technologies.  This new PEM process will also have applications across a wide variety of industries from turbines to razors.

And Jim Cahoon, the Research Triangle Nanotechnology Network (RTNN) Director at UNC Chapel Hill described how the RTNN makes available to the community resources that help the Nanotech companies in our area grow and is creating the advanced manufacturing workforce for the future of our State.

Each speaker also described how their companies have benefited from the Nano Infrastructure available in our community and through universities including Duke University, UNC Chapel Hill, NC State and the Joint School.  Steve Wilcenski stated, “without local resources such as the Joint School for Nanoscience and Nanoengineering it would have taken years to bring our products to market, and with their help we were able to accomplish it in 9 months”.

“As evidenced by these young companies and with the continued growth of larger companies such as Cree, North Carolina is quickly becoming a true Nanotech cluster.  Nano products may be really small, but they are impacting our lives for the better in big ways every day,” said Joe Magno, COIN’s Executive Director and National Nanotechnology Coordinating Infrastructure (CCNI) Board Member.

LaunchBio hosted the event at The Chesterfield.