Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ: VECO), a leading supplier of instrumentation to the nanoscience community, on Wednesday announced that it is establishing a nanotechnology center in India's silicon valley, Banglaore.

The facility will be staffed with local scientists and engineers and equipped with Veeco's latest Atomic Force Microscope (AFM), Scanning Tunneling Microscope (STM) products and other advanced nanotechnology application modules.

The Veeco-India Nanotechnology Laboratory will be jointly operated with the Jawaharlal Nehru Center for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR).

The JNC promotes scientific research in interdisciplinary areas of science and engineering.

John Bulman, Veeco's executive vice president for worldwide sales and foreign operations, said, "This new Veeco-India Nanotechnology Laboratory in Bangalore represents Veeco's further commitment to support our R&D customers throughout the world in critical regions of nanoscience research."

"After the center comes into being, researchers and scientists in India will have access to state-of-the-art Veeco products. We continue to see nanotechnology as a strong growth opportunity for Veeco, given the continued government spending around the globe," Bulman added.

According to Prof. C.N.R. Rao, Honorary President of the JNCASR, "Nanotechnology and nanoscience are important opportunities for India. Having access to the appropriate state-of-the-art instruments is critical to future nanotechnology developments in India."

The Indian government has made major allocations for nanotechnology between 2002 and 2007. A nanoscience initiative of the Department of Science and Technology that began in 2003 has identified and is working with more than 30 research and development institutions to identify prospective nanotechnology products that can be commercialized.

Source: Xinhua