Union government has identified Bangalore among the three cities in the country for the promotion and development of Nanotechnology under the Union government grant of Rs 1,000 crore. The other two cities are Kolkatta and Mohali. As part of the nanotechnology research and development efforts, the Centre has called upon to set up the Indian Institute of Nano Sciences (IINS) at the three locations.

Karnataka has already been granted the Rs 100 crore from the Centre for the commencement of the project and the State government has provided the possession certificate of the 14 acres of land to construct the IINS in Bangalore. The Institute will primarily focus on advanced scientific research. The other two cities will also have to set up similar institutes.

The possession certificate of the land was officially handed over to the Vision Group on Nanotechnology chairperson Prof. CNR Rao, national research professor, chairman, science advisory council to the Prime Minister and Honorary president, Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research Centre.

The institute will be on similar lines of the Karnataka government's instituted Institute of Bioinformatics and Applied Biotechnology(IBAB) that is operational for the last five years.

The Vision Group on Nanotechnology is also in the process of formulating a Nano Technology policy, stated Karnataka information technology, biotechnology and science and technology, secretary MN Vidyashankar, at the opening of the two day event on the Nanotechnology held in Bangalore in association with the State's department of information technology, biotechnology and science and technology along with the European Union.

In order to encourage nanotechnology initiatives in the State, Karnataka government has also announced an annual Bangalore Nano Excellence Award. The first recipient of the award is Prof CNR Rao who stated that nano has created excitement among global researchers in sensor technology which will add value in diagnostics, pharma research and areas of drug discovery. "Nano science and technology will now revolutionize the world. There will be soon minute wires going through the body to detect and treat diseases," he added.

In the wake of the action in the field of nanotechnology, the biggest issue is the shortage of technical expertise. "India has all the money to pursue research in nanotechnology but when it comes to manpower we have a serious problems", stated Prof Rao.

According to Dr Patrice Millet, programme officer, European Commission, the EU has fund allocation of Euros 500 million for research in nano projects. Within the framework of EU-India Science and Technology Cooperation Agreement, the EU and India have been working to create opportunities in Computational Material Sciences. In fact the EU's 7th Research Framework programme focuses on nano sciences and nanotechnology.

The first Bangalore Nano conference, exhibition and partnering is a two day event being held between December 6-7, 2007 at Hotel Ashok.