UCT Professor to speak on Nanoscience, Nanotechnology and Nanovation

Professor David Britton, founding director of the NanoSciences Innovation Centre and professor in the Department of Physics at University of Cape Town, will speak on “Nanoscience, Nanotechnology and Nanovation” on Wednesday, 17 October 2012, at 17h30.

Professor Britton’s current research focus is on the characterisation of defects and nanoscale structures, through dynamic processes and transport in solids, to the development and applications of novel nanomaterials, including printable silicon for electronics and solar power. Britton has published approximately 100 peer-reviewed papers and is listed as an inventor in 14 families of patent applications.

In January this year, the NanoSciences Innovation Centre at UCT and the centre’s spinout company, PST Sensors, introduced joint developments in thermal imaging and sensor imaging technology that can increase efficiency and safety in a number of industries,including food and pharmaceutical packaging, retail, transport and logistics, aerospace and automotive engineering, healthcare, marketing and advertising. This was shortly after Britton and his team received the Best in Show Award at the 2011 Printed Electronics USA Conference in Silicon Valley, California.

The UCT NanoSciences Innovation Centre is the principal hub of the USAID-funded NanoPower Africa network, which currently spreads over four African countries, and aims to build research capacity and promote entrepreneurship through high-profile collaborative research. The centre’s ultimate objective is to develop an indigenous solar cell technology.

Professor Britton was born in Huddersfield, UK, and studied at various colleges of the University of London. After obtaining his PhD from the Royal Holloway College in 1988, he spent several years as a postdoctoral fellow in The Netherlands, Finland and Germany.

Britton is also the past chair of the South African Nanotechnology Initiative (SANi). Through his activities in the political arena he was principal editor of the SANi Strategy Document that, in 2006, became the South African National Nanotechnology Strategy. Outside the university environment, he is currently technical director of PST Sensors, a spin-out company from UCT, which is developing and marketing sensor applications, starting with temperature sensors, based on its award-winning printed silicon technology.