Dear Mr Kaiserswerth
Dear Mr Kelly
Sehr geehrter Herr Professor Eichler
Sehr geehrte Herren Doktoren Binnig and Rohrer
Sehr geehrte Damen und Herren, Ladies and gentlemen from the fields of science and industry

Erlauben Sie mir vorab ein paar Bemerkungen auf Deutsch, einer unserer vier Schweizer Landessprachen.

Ich freue mich ganz besonders – und es ist mir eine Ehre – mit Ihnen heute die Inbetriebnahme dieses Nanotech-Labors zu feiern. Es ist ein Beispiel mit Modellcharakter für die Partnerschaft zwischen Wissenschaft und Wirtschaft, ein wichtiges Vorzeigemodell für den Forschungsplatz Schweiz.

Ich bin überzeugt, dass wir dank dieses Labors und dem auch räumlichen Zusammengehen von ETH und IBM mit weiteren entscheidenden Impulsen für die Nanoforschung der Zukunft rechnen dürfen – mit bahnbrechenden Entdeckungen wie sie bereits in der Vergangenheit von der Forschung an der ETH Zürich und dem IBM-Forschungslabor in Rüschlikon gemacht wurden.

And now, meine Damen und Herren, Ladies and Gentlemen, I address you in English, the language of the day.

It is a great honour and a pleasure to be here today to celebrate the inauguration of this nanotech lab. This laboratory has been made possible as the result of an equal partnership; a partnership and collaboration the likes of which we also strive between nations.

The most recent example of this was the signing of a declaration of intent with China aimed at intensifying relations in the field of science and technology and further strengthening exchanges. I am convinced that it is only together that we can master global challenges such as those in the field of renewable energies or climate change.

And in that regard, ‘little’ Switzerland is equally on a par with countries like ‘big’ China. In terms of scientific achievement Switzerland is among the big countries. That was clearly illustrated to our delegation during the visit to China over Easter, as I’m sure Professor Eichler can confirm.

Great wonders from small things

For me, today is about three things:

First, these fascinating, tiny little structures and building blocks of life, from which we are all made and on which the world around us is built: nanoparticles. These tiny things are amazing and their potential in practice and everyday usage, for innovation and the market, for climate and environmental protection. In short: for our lives and the future of our planet – the catchword being cleantech. Nano is revolutionising medicine, the fields of energy and the environment, the consumer goods industry sector and many others. Not only the minister of education and research is fascinated, but also the minister of public health. So if I have to say it in one word: tiny

Second, it’s about something as great as this new laboratory, behind which hides a great idea, which you as partners have brought about. It is the alliance of science and industry, which has achieved great things in the nanotech field, which is producing great things and which promises great things for the future. That’s why I think you were right, Dr Kelly, to say “make it much, much bigger and find a partner!” Solid partners are here and the lab is big – big enough to achieve great discoveries.

And third, it’s about nanosciences and nanotechnology, which deal with the tiniest of structures, but which at the same time have a great impact on the natural and technical sciences across all disciplines. Without them, countless day-to-day products would not be on the market. Take the example of
- self-cleaning windows, which don’t even give dirt a chance to settle,
- artificial intervertebral discs which don’t wear down
- or clothing rendered water-resistant thanks to its nanocoating.
There are a host of practical uses which derive from basic science, as I have just described, some, for example, which enable energy saving, environmental protection or health benefits. These disciplines are therefore not only useful, but indeed vital given the challenges we face today. In one word: necessary

So we can assume today that this brand new lab is a place from where we can expect tiny particles to offer great opportunities because it is necessary for mankind.

Ladies and gentlemen

On this opening day of the IBM-ETHZ Nanoscale Exploratory Technology Lab, allow me if you will to make a brief retrospective.

As I mentioned, Switzerland maybe a small country, but in terms of research, technology and innovation, it punches well above its weight, regularly occupying a leading place in international competition – as proven by the fact that Switzerland is involved in four of the six projects retained in the first phase of selection for the flagship of European science, and that it steers two of them. And it was in this country that the promising potential of nanoscience was recognised early on. That goes some way to explaining today’s high level of knowledge and the important step by step achievements to date made in the area of basic research.

From the federal government’s perspective I would like to give a brief reminder of the SNSF projects. These include the National Research Programme on ‘Nanosciences’ (NRP 36), commissioned by the Federal Council back in 1993 and which concluded in 2000 four and a half years later. Then there was the follow-up programme on ‘Supramolecular functional materials’ (NRP 47) or the ETH Board’s ‘TOP Nano 21’ project.

Let us also bear in mind the outstanding skills of the Federal Laboratories for Materials Testing and Research in the field of nanoscience research and development. It is not without reason that the EMPA is the laboratory’s first external partner. And we should not forget of course the National Centre of Competence in Research on ‘Nanoscale Sciences’, which was one of the first NCCRs. It brings together the University of Basel as Leading House with a variety of institutes from the ETH Domain, with the University of Neuchâtel and also the IBM Laboratory in Rüschlikon.

The activities in connection with this network rightly bear the ‘Cutting Edge Research made in Switzerland’ label. This NCCR and all other university activities in the nano field can expect fresh impetus from the National Research Programme on ‘Opportunities and Risks of Nanomaterials’ (NRP 64), which began its first projects at the end of last year. For despite all the optimism regarding the potential and opportunities of nanotechnology, ladies and gentlemen, we have to bear in mind that the manufacture, use and disposal of engineered nanomaterials could also pose risks to human health, the environment and natural resources. We need to minimize these risks. Science is also a question of ethics.

From basic research to application

The field of applied materials research and development also benefits from basic research in terms of opportunities and risks. This equally highly dynamic field influences questions in the field of nanosciences. This reciprocal exchange and transfer of knowledge between basic research lab and high-tech workshop is essential for a successful technology and business location.

This transfer, the exchange between those who seek and generate new knowledge and those who carry this knowledge further, apply it and, at the end of the innovation chain, transform it into industrial products, brings the cycle full circle. And that is how innovation evolves from a fruitful cycle; in other words discoveries are made, possible trends revealed, patents and products are developed.

Ladies and gentlemen

The new IBM-ETHZ Nanoscale Exploratory Technology Lab here in Rüschlikon is, in the view of the Federal Council, the perfect model of such a cycle. It brings nanosciences and nanotechnology together in terms of both time and space. Here in this laboratory, the knowledge and expertise of two leading and highly qualified partners will be united, namely those of the ETH Zurich – the leading university in Continental Europe – and those of IBM – the world’s largest IT corporation, a company that has been innovating for a hundred years.

Congratulations on the centenary! IBM is a corporation which not only applies and makes use of basic knowledge from science, but which also generously invests funding in research and development. This setting, which is a model public-private-partnership, brings together here in this research centre an unparalleled level of expertise, skill, versatility and clout.

I am certain that this collaboration, this close alliance of science, business and industry will bear fruit and open new horizons for mankind in the field of nanotechnology. I believe we can count on important, decisive impulses for future nano research, like seen in the past from research at the ETH Zurich and the IBM Research Lab in Rüschlikon. At this point I would like to mention the two Nobel Prize winners here with us today, Gerd Binnig and Heinrich Rohrer, whom we have to thank for giving us the first glimpse into the world of the atom due to the scanning tunnel microscope.

Ladies and gentlemen, I would also like to express my thanks. Thanks to IBM for once again demonstrating its support for Switzerland as a location for research and its universities and research institutions, in the shape of this laboratory and the collaboration with the ETH Zurich.

The wider economy can also build on the powerful knowledge produced by higher education institutions and research. Where such efforts touch on the federal government’s area of responsibility, rest assured that we will continue to do our utmost to ensure that we can offer the best possible conditions to private sector sponsored research efforts.

Providing the best possible conditions does not only mean assuring the generous and long-term funding of public institutions, but also assuring these institutions with a high degree of autonomy and direct responsibility. This should remain so in future. For only then can new fields of research be identified in good time, allowing the creation of new knowledge and the potential to develop supporting public private partnership projects such as this laboratory.

But scientific community in general and the institutions of the ETH Domain in particular know how to make us of their autonomy. They also deserve our thanks, which today are directed especially towards the ETH Zurich. You, the older of Switzerland’s two successful national higher education institutions took the forward-looking decision, in conjunction with IBM, to strive for great things based on the tiny objects of nanoscience – a decision which is sure to bear fruit, and lead to further great ground-breaking discoveries and developments in the world of nanoparticles.

In the name of the Swiss federal government and of the Swiss people I therefore congratulate both partners on their laboratory and their collaboration and wish them every possible success for the future – for Switzerland as a centre for research – but first of all for the good of mankind.

Inauguration of the IBM - ETHZ Nanoscale Exploratory Technology Lab - "Nanoparticles: tiny but important things with huge potential"