Costa
Rica
Joins
The List
Of
Technology
Pioneers
In less
than a
year
Costa
Rican
youth
have
placed
the
country
on the
list of
pioneers
in the
technology
of the
future,
joining
the
leaders,
the
United
states,
Germany
and
Japan.
|
If you
consider
that it
was
impossible
a few
decades
ago to
imagine
what lay
beyond
what
could be
seen
with the
naked
eye and
very
little
was
known
about
bacteria
and
viruses.
And even
more
difficult
to
follow
and
reach
deeper
into the
heart of
the
atom.
All this
is now a
reality
with
nanotechnology,
considered
the
technology
of the
future.
And
young
Costa
Ricans
are
involved
in a big
way.
According
to José
Vega,
Director
of the
CENAT
(Centro
Nacional
de Alta
Tecnología)
-
National
Centre
of High
Technology
Nanotechnology
Laboratory
and one
of Costa
Rica’s
experts
on the
subjects,
in less
than
five
years we
will
already
see
various
nano-applications
in our
houses
and
industries.
In order
to move
on to
the mass
production
of nano-components
and nano-systems,
some
obstacles
in
quality
control
still
need to
be
overcome
and also
it will
take a
few
years in
which
the
patents
will
have a
great
influence
over the
prices
of the
products,
although
this
should
be
compensated
for by
the low
manufacturing
costs”
he adds.
“Costa
Rica is
the
leader
in
Central
America,
and in
the
country
both
Lanotec
(
National
Lab of
Nanotechnology)
and some
universities
are
carrying
out
cutting-edge
research
in the
search
for new
applications
and of
alternative
mechanisms
of
fabrication
for
those
already
patented.
However,
the
resources
on which
these
national
institutions
depend
are also
on a
nano-metric
scale
and this
has been
a great
restriction
and
something
that has
held
back the
possibility
of more
significant
achievements.
We have
the
intellectual
capital
necessary
to make
great
strides
and if
we could
count on
better
financing
we could
advance
at a
faster
pace and
achieve
more
variety
and
efficiency
in the
research”,
adds
Vega.
Nanotechnology
(sometimes
shortened
to
"nanotech")
is the
study of
manipulating
matter
on an
atomic
and
molecular
scale.
Generally,
nanotechnology
deals
with
structures
sized
between
1 to 100
nanometer
in at
least
one
dimension,
and
involves
developing
materials
or
devices
within
that
size.
Quantum
mechanical
effects
are very
important
at this
scale,
which is
in the
quantum
realm.
Nanotechnology
is very
diverse,
ranging
from
extensions
of
conventional
device
physics
to
completely
new
approaches
based
upon
molecular
self-assembly,
from
developing
new
materials
with
dimensions
on the
nanoscale
to
investigating
whether
we can
directly
control
matter
on the
atomic
scale. |
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