Qld establishes centre of excellence

The Queensland government and The University of Queensland have announced a $50 million Australian Institute of Bio-Engineering and Nanotechnology would be established in Brisbane.

Peter Beattie, Queensland Premier, said the institute would be a first for Australia, and would provide a centre of excellence that would take Qld another giant step forward in the 'Smart State' plan.

Mr Beattie said the institute was the first project to be funded through the $100m smart state research facilities fund established in this year's state budget.

Mr Beattie said nanotechnology was an important new area of research and industry, with potential benefits for fields such as health, manufacturing, information technology and the environment. "Nanotechnology is the ability to systematically build structures at the molecular level, atom by atom," Mr Beattie said. "It is estimated the nanotechnology industry is already worth $90 billion a year and that is expected to grow to $450 billion a year by 2005."