/> The four day mission will provide an excellent opportunity to explore the nanomedicine strengths in Switzerland, network with Swiss counterparts and gain exposure to the Swiss nanomedicine market. The mission will be lead by Prof. Lord Alec Broers, previous chair of the House of Lords Science & Technology Committee and a well known figure in nanotechnology.

Prof. Lord Alec Broers explains, “Both the UK and Switzerland have significant expertise in the application of nanotechnology to the challenges healthcare providers face, but product development in this field cannot be done alone. This is a multidisciplinary field, requiring input from physicists, chemists and biologists. It truly is a collaborative venture. Companies and academic institutions need to find collaborators with whom new ideas can be formed, and difficult challenges can be solved.”

During their travels the UK delegates will be visiting the three major nanomedicine clusters of Geneva/Lausanne, Basel and Zurich, to assess the expertise in these centres and the potential for collaboration with the UK. They will be meeting a number of Swiss companies small and large, and also academic and research institutions.

The UK delegation comprises of the UK’s largest pharma company GSK, plus Applied Nanodetectors, Aseptika, Izon Science Ltd, Pharmidex, QuantuMDx and Swiss Precision Diagnostics, as well as a number of academics representing the Bristol Heart Institute, London Centre for Nanotechnology, the Centre for NanoHealth at Swansea, and the Universities of Leeds and Sheffield.

Dr Mike Fisher, Theme Manager for Healthcare & Life Sciences at the NanoKTN added, “The NanoKTN’s primary aim is to encourage and support UK organisations to collaborate and share knowledge with key partners in attractive end user markets to achieve growth of the UK micro and nanotechnology sector. We are delighted to be running our first NanoMedicine Mission to Switzerland and look forward to discussing the potentials for collaboration with Swiss companies and research institutions, and hope that all our UK delegates establish valuable contacts in Switzerland.”