> Sol-Gel 2011 – Hangzhou, China

The 16th edition of the International Sol-Gel Conference, SolGel2011, has been held in Hangzhou, P.R. of China, from 28 august to 2 September.

Conference website:
www.chinasolgel.com/solgel2011

Sol-Gel 2011 Proceedings

A special issue of the JSST – Volume 65, Number 1 is available on Springer, link here.

Report on the Conference

by the Local Organizing Committee

The 16th International Sol-Gel Conference has been successfully held in Zhejiang Hotel, Hangzhou, China, from August 28th to September 2nd, 2011. It is the first time for such a great event in sol-gel field to take place in China. 515 delegates from 39 Countries and districts gathered at the conference. The Conference set up 12 topics related to Sol-Gel Chemistry and Fundamentals, New Characterization Techniques for Sol-Gel Materials, Industrialization of Sol-Gel Science & Technology and so on. 476 abstracts covered all the topics has been received. 3 keynote lectures, 3 award lectures, 16 invited lectures, 116 oral lectures, and 302 posters have been presented on the conference.

The 16th International conference strived to provide every participant with opportunities to exchange ideas and open up new fields of research and collaboration. It stimulated and excited forums for scientists from both academia and industries to present and share their ideas in the sol-gel field. More on the conference website

by Vadim Kessler

The Conference revealed very distinctly a change in the main focus of the research in the Sol-Gel community as Prof. Michel Aegerter summarized in his Life Achievement Ulrich Award lecture.

Having started as, in the first hand, fundamental research in glass technology, the Sol-Gel science today has turned to the most appealing needs of modern society – materials for energy and for biological applications. This focus could be very distinctly traced in already the keynote lectures delivered in the first day of the conference, see: http://www.chinasolgel.com/uploadfiles/Scientific_Program-0902.pdf

The attention to materials for modern power sources, in particular, to the lithium batteries has set carbonaceous materials – nanocomposites based on porous carbon networks produced by transformation of sol-gel derived polymers among the most popular research topics. This fact has been confirmed also by the International Ulrich Award been given to Dr. Kazuyoshi Kanamori (Kyoto, Japan), who gave a very impressive and exciting lecture about his work in this field. An intensive discussion has been provoked by the lecture of Prof. Bao Lian Su (Namur, Belgium) presenting studies on bio-hybrid batteries as potential oxygen and energy source and also an instrument in carbon dioxide fixation. This contribution was definitely extremely thought-provoking as well as the lecture of Dr. Julian Jones (London, UK) who gave an account about the progress in living bone tissue engineering starting from sol-gel derived bioglass and stem cells.

A very principal observation concerning the need of close collaboration between academy and industry has been made by another Life Achievement Ulrich Award recipient Prof. Tsutomi Minami (Osaka, Japan). The positive lessons from this close interaction will hopefully help a lot in the future successful development of the activities of ISGS.

by numerous photographers

who, for some, have favored moments of hard work, while others favored convivial moments, in particular the ones that took place late at night …


The complete album is available on the Conference website:
http://www.chinasolgel.com/solgel2011/news.asp?action=detail&id=43

The Award Ceremony…

and the Awardees are presented on the page:
https://www.isgs.org/index.php/awards/181-g-isgs-awards-2011

ISGS warmly thanks…

the Companies that took part, through sponsoship, in the achievement of the 16th International Sol-Gel Conference and contributed to its large success.

Central Glass Co., Ltd produces sheet glass for architecture, automobile, and electric display and chemicals for agriculture, semiconductor, medicines,… contribution to the Life Achievement Awards
Springer is a global leader in the publication of journals and books for the scientific, technical, and medical (STM) communities, delivering quality content through innovative information products and services. The company publishes more than 2,000 journals, including nearly 500 in cooperation with society partners, and 6,500 new books a year, as well as the world’s largest STM eBook Collection. Springer serves scientific and technical information needs worldwide, and maintains offices in about 20 countries in Europe, the USA, and Asia. contribution to the Life Achievement Awards
Nippon Sheet Glass Co. ltd operates three worldwide business lines, serving the Building Products, Automotive and Specialty Glass markets. contribution to the Best poster Awards and Travel Grants for students