China’s Ambition to Become a Global Leader in Nanotechnology by Rani Jarkas

China’s rapid economic transformation over the last 3 decades has been remarkable both in terms of its speed and scale. However, China is not known for its highly advanced technology manufacturing. “A lot of the entrepreneurial activities around the Asia-Pacific have been great market-needs kinds of things, where people haven’t had to develop a lot of advanced technologies to be successful,” says Dr. Richard Dasher of the US-Asia Technology Management Center at Stanford University.



However, this model is slowly shifting. Thanks to heavy investments in nanotech research, public-private partnerships and developments in nanotechnology, I will say within five to ten years China will compete in every part of the industry. China’s investment has already surpassed that of any other country after the US. Since 1999, China’s spending on research and development (R&D) has gone up by more than 20% each year.



Hardly surprisingly, there is a race to become the global leader in nanoscience and nanotechnology. China is rapidly moving to reposition itself away from low value adding economic activity, announcing its ambition to become a global leader in nanoscience and technology.

拉尼.亚卡斯（Rani Jarkas）：绿色纳米技术在太阳能电池中的应用

绿色纳米技术是清洁技术的发展，“使用更环保的纳米产品代替现有产品，通过生产和使用纳米技术产品以减少对环境的破坏并降低对人类健康所造成的威胁。”许多科学家正在寻找方法来开发清洁、廉价和可再生能源，以较少对环境的破坏并尽可能地减少污染。

目前正进行的一个主要研究是如何把纳米技术应用到开发更高效的太阳能电池。太阳能电池的效率更高，而且是可再生能源。许多研究人员正在着手研究能减少能源浪费的高效太阳能发电。

[caption id="attachment_203" align="aligncenter" width="260"] Solar Panels [ranijarkas.wordpress.com][/caption]
斯坦福大学的研究人员发现了一种在有机太阳能电池中捕获光的方法。这个想法的原理很简单，光在太阳能电池中停留的时间越长，其所产生的电子将越多。研究人员发现，把比光的波长更薄的有机层夹在太阳能电池的反射镜和粗糙层之间，能使光在太阳能电池中停留更长时间，从而激发更多的电流。

密歇根理工大学的研究人员发明了一种独特的3D蜂窝结构石墨烯。这种新型且并不昂贵材料可替代太阳能电池的铂金材料，而且转换效率并不降低。这种3D蜂窝状石墨烯具有优良的导电性与高催化活性，因此它们能够用于储能及能量转换。配有3D石墨烯对电极的可将7.8%的太阳光线转化为电力。

美国洛斯阿拉莫斯国家实验室的研究展示了使用薄膜铜铟镓硒太阳能电池模组。它比传统玻璃做的硅片电池模组更加轻薄，且完全无含毒镉的成分。

美国麻省理工学院的研究人员研制出一种在柔性石墨烯片上涂覆纳米线的新方法。这种方法可以生产出低成本、透明以及柔韧性佳的太阳能电池，能够在窗户、屋顶以及其他物体的表面使用。

Green Nanotechnology in Solar cells by Rani Jarkas

Green nanotechnology is the development of clean technologies, "to minimize potential environmental and human health risks associated with the manufacture and use of nanotechnology products, and to encourage replacement of existing products with new nano-products that are more environmentally friendly throughout their lifecycle” As the growing needs to protect our environment are increasing, many scientists are looking into ways to develop clean, affordable, and renewable energy sources, with a smaller environmental footprint and minimise pollution.

[caption id="attachment_203" align="aligncenter" width="260"] Solar Panels[/caption]

One major project that is being worked on is the development of nanotechnology in solar cells. Solar cells are more efficient as they get tinier and solar energy is a renewable resource. A group of researchers are making solar power significantly more efficient by scooping up more of that wasted energy.

Researchers at Stanford University have found a way to trap light in organic solar cells. The idea is that the longer light is in the solar cell the more electrons will be generated. The researchers found that by making the organic layer much thinner than the wavelength of light and sandwiching the organic layer between a mirror layer and a rough layer the light stayed in the solar cell longer and excited more electrons.

Researchers at Michigan Technological University have developed a honeycomb like structure of graphene in which the graphene sheets are held apart by lithium carbonate. They have used this "3D graphene" to replace the platinum in a dye sensitized solar cell and achieved 7.8 percent conversion of sunlight to electricity.

Researchers at Los Alamos National Lab have demonstrated a solar cell that uses a copper indium selenide sulfide quantum dots. Unlike quantum dots containing lead or cadmium the copper based quantum dot is non-toxic as well as low cost.

[caption id="attachment_202" align="aligncenter" width="300"] A field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) image of 3D honeycomb-structured graphene. [ranijarkas.wordpress.com][/caption]
MIT researchers have made major strides toward developing solar cells that are inexpensive, efficient, flexible, and transparent using a design that combines two special components: nanowires and graphene. Tests with assembled solar cells showed that incorporating the nanowires pushed up device efficiency and that there was no performance penalty for replacing a conventional high-cost, brittle electrode with their version made of abundant, inexpensive carbon.

拉尼.亚卡斯（Rani Jarkas）：纳米技术在医学中的应用

在我之前写的博客中（http://ranijarkas.wordpress.com），我谈到了一些我在多年来从事与纳米技术相关工作中所获得的一些经验和见解。我相信你一定经常听到“纳米技术”一词，但不管我们对它多么耳熟能详，纳米技术仍然是一个谜。我们看不到它，我们也感觉不到它。而事实上，纳米技术已应用在消费产品、医疗、食品等更多的领域。今天让我们专注于探讨纳米技术在医学上的应用。

纳米技术被称为“ 二十一世纪的技术”，其在医药领域的应用可以彻底改变我们未来检测和治疗疾病的方式。有些技术是想象出来的，有些正在测试的不同阶段，而另一些我们今天已在应用。

纳米技术在医学上正在研发的一门技术是利用纳米颗粒向癌细胞等特定类型的细胞输送药物、热、光或其他物质。纳米颗粒可作为药物载体来吸引病变细胞，从而可以直接处理这些细胞。这种技术可减少对体内健康细胞的伤害，并可以在早期发现疾病。美国国家癌症研究所创造了癌症纳米技术联盟，希望可以吸引更多对纳米医学的投资以突破对各种癌症的检测、诊断和治疗。

纳米技术专家拉尔夫•梅克尔博士（Dr. Ralph Merkle）曾经说过，“如果我们能降低成本并利用纳米技术的进步提高医疗技术质量，我们就可以更广泛地解决医疗问题以减少人类的苦难。”

有一点是可以肯定的，未来纳米技术医学的发展将会有更广泛的用途，并可以挽救许多的生命。就像伯纳德.马库斯（Bernard Marcus）所说，“纳米技术在医学上的应用无疑会对人类的生存产生重大的影响。”

Nanotechnology in Medicine by Rani Jarkas

In my previous blogs (http://ranijarkas.wordpress.com/), I shared some of my thoughts and insights obtained from my work and experience in the nanotechnology industry. I am sure you must hear about “nanotechnology” a lot, but no matter how much we hear about it, nanotech remains something of a mystery. We can’t see it, and we certainly can't feel it. And the truth is nanotechnology has found a place in consumer products, medical treatment, the food industry and so much more. Let’s focus on the discussion on its application in medicine today. I will continue to write more about nanotech in the near future.

The use of nanotechnology, "the technology of the 21st century," in the field of medicine could revolutionize the way we detect and treat disease in the future. Some techniques are only imagined, some are at various stages of testing, while some are actually being used today.

One application of nanotechnology in medicine currently being developed involves employing nanoparticles to deliver drugs, heat, light or other substances to specific types of cells, such as cancer cells. Particles are engineered so that they are attracted to diseased cells, which allows direct treatment of those cells. This technique reduces damage to healthy cells in the body and allows for earlier detection of disease. The National Cancer Institute has created the Alliance for Nanotechnology in Cancer in the hope that investments in nanomedicine could lead to breakthroughs in terms of detecting, diagnosing, and treating various forms of cancer.

The nanotechnology expert Dr. Ralph Merkle once said, “If we can reduce the cost and improve the quality of medical technology through advances in nanotechnology, we can more widely address the medical conditions that are prevalent and reduce the level of human suffering.”

One thing is sure that nanotechnology medical developments over the coming years will have a wider variety of uses and could potentially save many lives. Just like what Bernard Marcus said, “Nanotechnology in medicine is going to have a major impact on the survival of the human race.”

拉尼•亚卡斯（Rani Jarkas）对纳米技术的兴趣

纳米技术之父埃里克•德雷克斯勒（K. Eric Drexler）在二十世纪八十年代令“纳米技术”一词风靡世界。因为这门科学是研究物质的基本组成形式的，因此具有无数种用途。当我们进一步了解分子是如何运作和如何操控他们时，世界无疑将被改变。最大的启示将会来自于最小的物质。诺贝尔奖得主物理学家理查德•费曼（Richard Feynman）早在1959年提出的一种新设想：人类能够用小的机器制造更小的机器，直到达到分子或原子状态，最后可以直接按意愿逐个排列原子并制造产品。这正是关于纳米技术最早的设想。他设想过微型信息处理技术以及微型制造机器。

拉尼•亚卡斯（Rani Jarkas）是一家在纳米技术投资领域拥有最悠久历史的公司创始人和董事长。自2003年以来，他一直致力于向投资者讲解纳米技术并建议投资者如何善用纳米技术的发展。

拉尼•亚卡斯（Rani Jarkas）在一次主题演讲中提到，“纳米技术是用单个原子、分子制造物质的科学技术，这门技术可能会帮助我们使用较少的劳动力、较少的土地和在低成本的情况下，满足人类对安全饮水、能源、医疗保健和食品产品的需求。纳米技术的应用可以为各行业带来巨大的增长，它为低成本的太阳能发电、环境保育、建筑、精确的癌症治疗、医疗诊断和国防技术提供了新的解决方案。”

Rani Jarkas’ Interests in Nanotechnology

K. Eric Drexler popularized the word 'nanotechnology' in the 1980's. Soon nanotechnology became an accepted concept, the meaning of the word shifted to encompass the simpler kinds of nanometer-scale technology. Nanotechnology, in its traditional sense, means building things from the bottom up, with atomic precision. This theoretical capability was envisioned as early as 1959 by Nobel Prize winner in physics Richard Feynman. The physicist spoke of storing all the information in all the world's books on "the barest piece of dust that can be made out by the human eye." He imagined shrinking computers and medical devices, and developing new techniques of manufacturing and mass production. In short, a half-century ago he anticipated what we now call nanotechnology—the manipulation of matter at the level of billionths of a meter.

Rani Jarkas, a founder and chairman of the longest-standing firm in the nanotechnology investment arena, has been educating and advising investors on how to capitalize on the growth in nanotechnology since 2003.

“Nanotech is a technology to break a matter down to the smallest size of particles to increase its efficiency tremendously, which might provide solutions to meet demand of safe water, energy, healthcare and food products with less labour and limited land at low-cost. The application of nanotechnology can bring tremendous growth in industrials and help making low-cost solar energy generation, environment conservations, construction sector, precise cancer treatment, medical diagnosis, and defense technology. ” Rani Jarkas said in his keynote presentation.

对环保清洁技术的一些见解 - 拉尼.亚卡斯（Rani Jarkas）

今年二月，我在博客发表了一篇关于环保清洁技术的文章（http://ranijarkas.wordpress.com/2014/02/24/rani-jarkas-cleantech-wisdom/）。接着我收到了很多读者对环保清洁技术的问题。这些问题启发了我写这篇博客：到底什么是环保清洁技术？为什么环保清洁技术如此重要？我们又应该如何参与其中？

什么是环保清洁技术？
环保清洁技术是指任何能提高经营绩效和生产力，同时降低成本、投入、减少能源消耗和废物或减少环境污染的任何产品或服务。环保清洁技术的理念很简单。它能够帮助我们更有效地使用自然资源。简单的说就是少花资源多办事：使用更少的能源和土地、节约用水、减少浪费。

为什么环保清洁技术对我们如此重要？
全球暖化和天然资源日益枯竭是当今世界面临的两个主要问题。很多地方淡水已逐渐稀缺甚至有毒；食品价格以双位数的速度飞涨；沙漠蔓延；海平面上升；为了争夺剩余的廉价石油而令国际紧张局势不断加剧；还有些国家为了争夺水资源而不断引发内战。

我们很想能轻易找到能替代“电”的能源，而这种能源又不会伤害到我们所居住的星球。在经历了多年的尝试后，现在我们才意识到，我们所居住的这个星球是经不起伤害的。石油和煤炭不仅伤害地球，而且还伤害你的健康。不可再生能源所造成的巨大伤害简直到了令人难以置信的地步。而这种危害的严重性令我们必须正视并寻找解决的方法。

有远见的人早已看到了传统能源所带来的负面影响并积极地寻找可代替品，环保清洁技术应运而生。清洁生产技术的进步和推广无可置疑可以保护生态系统并减少环境破坏对人类健康所造成的消极影响。

我们如何参与其中？
虽然每个人都应该为保护我们的地球出一分力，却只有少数人可以把资金投入到一些具有环保意识并致力于发展清洁技术的企业。在世界各地的证券交易所都有很多标签着“绿色能源”的企业。如果您想参与保护地球的行列，请投资这些企业，以帮助他们发展新技术并实现环境优化的经济发展。

但是无论你有钱与否，我们其实在日常生活中也可以通过别的方式来保护环境，比如节省用电或者资源回收再用等。地球是我们人类赖以生存的家园，保护地球，保护环境，就是在保护我们自己，我们要从生活中的点滴入手，为这个共同的家园贡献一份力量。

Rani Jarkas to Speak at the "Oil & Gas Investor Summit Asia" in Hong Kong

[caption id="attachment_148" align="aligncenter" width="652"] Oil and Gas Investor Summit Asia [ranijarkas.wordpress.com][/caption]Leading Investors to Highlight Opportunities in Indonesia

Rani Jarkas, an industry leader in energy sector, will speak at the “Oil & Gas Investor Summit Asia” in Hong Kong on 12th June, 2014 together with other distinguished speakers, including the World Bank’s lead Economist for Indonesia, Quam Capital’s Managing Director and Head of M&A and Private Equity as well as KKR’s (Kohlberg Kravis Roberts) Director of Energy & Infrastructure. Mr. Jarkas will be sharing his extensive experience doing business and making investments in Indonesia.

Rani has years of experience and vast knowledge about investing in the natural resources, energy, and life sciences industries in emerging markets in Southeast Asia, Central Asia and Africa.

Rani Jarkas said, “I am honored to be invited to speak at this important summit. With the support of its governmental and business partners in Indonesia, I intend to pursue additional oil and gas projects, including making direct investments itself and bringing in its tier-one institutional clients from around the globe to facilitate continued economic growth in this resource-rich and fascinating country.”

Rani Jarkas: Hidden Investment Opportunities in Africa

Africa has extensive mineral and natural resources. The continent makes up 20% of the world’s land mass and has 89% of the world’s platinum, 12% of its proven oil reserves and 9% of its natural gas. In addition, Africa has a young, growing population of around one billion people. Of the top 10 fastest-growing economies in the world, 6 are in Africa. However, most international businesses are still not very aware of Africa’s investment opportunities.

Rani Jarkas, a global well-known entrepreneur and a recognized leader in the finance industry shares his views on Africa with us, “Forward-looking investors should invest in Africa for its substantial long-term growth potential. Particularly I believe immense investment opportunities could be found in banking and finance, energy and infrastructure and agriculture.”

“The returns in Europe and North America have been low so the only place where you get good higher returns could be Africa. My intention is to provide better understanding how growth opportunities vary across the diverse continent as well as bringing value to local investors and offering my clients access to investment opportunities that capitalize on the rapid growth in the dynamic Asia and Africa and act as a bridge to fill the regional gaps,” added Rani Jarkas.

BRIEFINGWIRE: Rani Jarkas, the Leading Player in the Game Answers Your Question: Why Invest in Nanotechnology?

BRIEFINGWIRE: Rani Jarkas, the Leading Player in the Game Answers Your Question: Why Invest in Nanotechnology?.

Rani Jarkas, the Leading Player in the Game Answers Your Question: Why Invest in Nanotechnology?

As a founder and Chairman of the longest-standing firm in the nanotechnology investment arena, Rani Jarkas offers his clients and investors superior intelligence and investment products including a fund and two nano indices that enable them to participate in the growth of nanotechnology.

But why invest in nanotechnology?

“If you look into every industrial sector from materials to electronics to energy to defense to computing to telecommunications to life science, nanotech is the fulcrum that is moving the world. That is why investors who look for long-term growth might want to consider investing in nanotechnology,” Rani said.

Rani Jarkas has been educating and advising investors on how to capitalize on the growth in nanotechnology since 2003. He has unique relationships with public and private company executives, institutional investors, leading academic institutions, industry thought leaders and premier venture capital firms interested in nanotechnology. His solid network enables his clients to access some of the best investment opportunities. Rani is also often consulted about acquisitions and partnership opportunities from both public and private companies.

BRIEFINGWIRE: Rani Jarkas Proves Again To Be a Global Nanotechnology Investment Leader

BRIEFINGWIRE: Rani Jarkas Proves Again To Be a Global Nanotechnology Investment Leader.

Rani Jarkas Proves Again To Be a Global Nanotechnology Investment Leader

[caption id="attachment_126" align="aligncenter" width="168"] Nanotechnology (ranijarkas.wordpress.com)[/caption]

Rani Jarkas is a Chairman and founder of a global investment firm. He has been involved in the Nanotechnology field for almost a decade. Under Rani’s leadership, his firm has become a worldwide leader and the longest-standing firm in the nanotechnology investment arena, offering investors superior intelligence and investment products including a fund and two indices that enable them to participate in the growth of this exciting emerging technology.

Rani Jarkas has been leading and working with a team of nanotechnology experts including Dr. Thomas Kenny, who is an internationally renowned nanotechnology and micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) expert. Through Rani’s designed platform, he was able to provide access to proprietary nanotechnology equity research and offers an array of investment products to investors.

In October 2009, Rani introduced two global nanotechnology indices in order to meet the needs of diverse investors. These indices serve as performance benchmarks for nanotechnology investing. The diversified index includes equally-weighted companies spanning all five nano-markets, including electronics, manufacturing, energy, life sciences and clean technology and is inclusive of both diversified companies that have nanotechnology as only one of their many growth drivers, and pure-play companies that have nanotechnology as their primary driver of growth. The pure index is a concentrated index, comprised of equally-weighted pure-play companies spanning also all five nano-markets and is best-suited for small-cap investors.

Today, Rani is very proud to announce that the 1Q2014 performance of these two global nanotechnology indices have outperformed many of the major equity indices in the period, including S&P 500, NASDAQ Composite, MSCI World, Russell 3000, Nikkei, Hang Seng and Shanghai Composite with a respective return of 9.83% and 11.25%.

“We are delighted that our nanotechnology indices have outperformed major global indices since their inception. With many economies facing major environmental issues and aging populations, application of nanotechnology is set to accelerate to a new level in industries such as clean technology and life sciences. I believe that nanotechnology will enable the next major Technology Revolution,” said Rani.

BRIEFINGWIRE: Rani Jarkas’ Insight into Rare Earths Elements

BRIEFINGWIRE: Rani Jarkas’ Insight into Rare Earths Elements.

BRIEFINGWIRE: Rani Jarkas at African Business and Investment Events in Hong Kong 2013

BRIEFINGWIRE: Rani Jarkas at African Business and Investment Events in Hong Kong 2013

Rani Jarkas Investigates NanoTech: Exactly What Is It Really And How It Works

Rani Jarkas Investigates NanoTech: Exactly What Is It Really And How It Works.

BRIEFINGWIRE: Rani Jarkas Investment Views on Africa

BRIEFINGWIRE: Rani Jarkas Investment Views on Africa.

BRIEFINGWIRE: Nanotechnology by Rani Jarkas

BRIEFINGWIRE: Nanotechnology by Rani Jarkas.

Rani Jarkas’ Views on Why Boutique is Better

Rani Jarkas is an effective and reliable executive with abilities of overcoming complex business challenges and making high-stakes decisions using experience-backed judgment, strong work ethic and irreproachable integrity with over 20 years of financial service industry experience. “In my opinion, going to a bulge bracket firm is just not the ideal and most effective option for everyone. When you read the story below, you might find the answer,” said Rani Jarkas.

A famous engineer was called to look at a malfunctioning piece of manufacturing machinery. One fourth of a city block in size and completely encased in a shell of concrete, repair of the machine would require breaking through the barrier wall – a correct diagnosis was imperative before work could begin. The engineer set his price for coming to look at the machine at $100,000. The owner of the plant thought that a very high price, but the machinery was vital to his operation and this man was reputedly the very best available, so he agreed to the terms. Having arrived, the engineer walked slowly around the encasement, listening carefully to the workings of the machine inside. At long last, still listening carefully, he took a red Sharpie out of his pocket and drew a small X on the wall. “Tell your mechanic that this is where the problem is”, he said to the plant owner. “What is this?” screamed the owner, “I paid you $100,000 for you to draw an X on the wall?” “No”, said the engineer. “You paid me $100,000 for knowing where to draw it”.

Rules are presumably put in place to protect the investor, but as always, it is the unintended consequences that are the ones that you need to watch out for.

When uncontrollable events take place that cause specific market sectors to fall, whether caused by market failures, acts of God or some other intervention, a well-intentioned money manager has to have the liberty to move assets to those areas that are on the way up, or at least get out of the way of the ones that are falling. Many people lost their pensions and other savings and investments during the 2008 crash due to restrictions to do just this.

One safe haven that was not open to many money managers in the last financial crisis was the option of moving to cash. The stigma of moving assets to cash is based on urban myth, propagated by institutions that have insisted that investors entrust their money to those who were going to actually invest it – any lay person could hold cash! But this is faulty logic. Investors are entrusting their savings to experts who know where to draw the X on the wall. Investors want money managers who know when cash is king and when and what to buy and sell.

Knowledgeable investors have been frustrated by limited alternatives available in the market and passive investors are unaware of the conundrum that exists.

Investors today are looking for independence. They want to employ money managers who have the freedom to make investment choices that are focused on long-term growth and the preservation of wealth, regardless of geographic boundaries, industry segments or asset type. Investors are looking for fund managers who use a variety of research sources to gain their information – without solely relying on a centralized internal research department that provides all company fund managers with the same information, commonly resulting in collective buying and selling and potentially impacting price and performance execution. Investors are also concerned about the bottom line – how the fund actually performs in terms of real gains or losses, not how it performs against a benchmark. Beating a benchmark by 5% is great, unless of course the index was down 50% itself. And finally, over-dependence on fundamental analysis and portfolio size could mean a delay in decision-making to avoid or cut losses or holding on to falling assets for fear of missing out on the chance of a return rally. Investors want money managers who are focused on protecting and growing capital – managers who know precisely where to mark that X on the wall.

Some say that globalization has ‘shrunk’ the world. From Rani’s perspective, the world is still a pretty big and diverse place and there are opportunities everywhere – even when the mainstream media depicts a direr story. From this viewpoint, it made good sense to develop efficient products with built-in resilience to economic environments and market conditions without limitations to specific sectors or geographical focus.

The rise of the independent boutique firm is testament to these ideas – knowing where to draw the X on the wall — by developing and using creative products based on solid constructs, exploring markets and opportunities all around the world and appropriate discretionary investing suitable to an investor’s risk/return tolerance.