Brazil Gets Ready to Welcome World Aerospace Authorities and Nanotechnology Innovators

Representatives of leading Brazilian Aerospace, Defense and Nanotechnology Organizations and CANEUS International met in São José dos Campos, São Paulo, Brazil

Senior figures from the Brazilian Aerospace Industries, Government Agencies, Universities, Brazilian National Associations of Innovative Enterprises, and the Chairman of the CANEUS International Organization met this week (April 28-30, 2008) in São José dos Campos, São Paulo for the final strategic preparations for the CANEUS 2008 World Conference which take place on November 9-16, 2008 in São Paulo, Brazil

These series of meetings held in São José dos Campos, São Paulo and Brasilia were follow-up to the visit by the Brazilian delegation to Montreal on April 13-18, 2008, led by Director of CTA/IEAv Dr. Darcton Policarpo Damião and Vice-Director Technology Dr. Carlos Fernando Rondina Mateus. The five-day visit helped prepare the groundwork for the Executive and Technical Committees meeting held on April 28th in Brazil.

CANEUS 2008 Executive and Technical Committees

Leading Brazilian Organisers representing Industries (Embraer, Petrobras, Avibras, HTA Consortium), Government Agencies (IEAv, INPE, ABDI, IAE, ITA, CenPRA, BNDES, MCT, MDIC, AEB), Universities (PUC-RH, UF-RJ, UFRJ, Unicamp), and Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Competitiveness Organizations (ANPEI, CECOMP, ANAC) are working closely with the CANEUS International Organization in the staging of the CANEUS 2008 Technical Program (short courses, invited speakers sessions, poster papers, sector consortia workshops, exhibits), Industrial Tours and Social events, and putting together requisite infrastructure ahead of welcoming the World’s aeronautics, space, defense and nanotechnology experts to Brazil in a little over six months.

Dr Hugo Borelli Resende, Chief Scientist of EMBRAER and Dr. Evando Mirra, Director of ABDI, Co-Chair the technical committee.

The technical program, which will be almost identical to that for the earlier CANEUS World Conferences, will also have significant participation by senior officials from the Brazilian Government agencies, Aerospace Industries and Nanotechnology developers, who gathered into São Paulo for the CANEUS 2008 Executive and Technical Committees meetings.

The Chairman of CANEUS International Milind Pimprikar travelled from Montreal, Canada to meet the members of the Executive Committee, Local Organizing Committee and the Technical Committee in São Paulo, and also see the venue ahead of the CANEUS 2008 event.

CANEUS 2008 Historic Significance

Following the previous successful CANEUS World Summits held in Montreal, Canada in 2002, Monterey, California in 2004, and Toulouse, France in 2006, it is now South America's turn to host this very important event.
On 9-16, November 2008, almost 10 years since the origin of CANEUS, World Aerospace End-Users and Nanotechnology developers will gather in São Paulo, Brazil to take stock of the progress toward establishing international consortia’s and projects.

It is with increasing pride and excitement that we view our continuing preparations for the CANEUS 2008 Conference in Brazil, and review our collective accomplishments at the Executive and Technical Committee meetings held in San jose de campos, Brazil on April 28, 2008.

“I have been asked several times over the past few months whether our current state of preparedness is comparable to the corresponding state of preparedness for the CANEUS 2004 and 2006 Conferences. I am happy to state with confidence that we are in fact better positioned in all respects, commented CANEUS Chairman Milind Pimprikar!

We are eagerly anticipating the discussions on novel MNT based materials & devices; needs and lessons learned from the Aeronautics, space and defense communities; Government and private investments; international collaborations and issues related to ITAR and Export Control; and international consortia’s covering topics such as small satellites, fly-by-wireless, aircraft-spacecraft structural health monitoring, reliability testing, harsh environment sensors, composite materials for aerospace, that will be a central feature of the CANEUS 2006 Conference.

The CANEUS 2008 Conference seeks to create and promote international consortia aimed at rapid insertion of MNT concepts into Aerospace applications. Each CANEUS Consortium is essentially an advocacy group for a particular aerospace technology segment. The Consortium comprises all of the primary stakeholders involved in technology/product development.

Strong Brazilian Leadership

CANEUS Chairman Milind Pimprikar visited and met key officials of the Brazilian Space Agency, Ministry of Defense, Ministry of Science & Technology and ABDI in São Paulo and Brasilia.

Mr. Walter Bartels, President of AIAB (Aerospace Industries Association of Brazil) and General Commander Carlos Alberto Pires Rolla, Commander of CTA will act as honorary chairmen of the CANEUS 2008 conference. Mr. Bartels, President of AIAB since 1995 is a member of the Superior Council of the Brazilian Space Agency and of the Council Brazilian Foreign Trade Association.

Brazilian Keynote, Lead and Invited Speakers:

The Brazilian Technical Committee Chairman Dr Hugo Borelli Resende has mandated the members of the Technical Committee to prepare Brazilian participation in the “Short Courses”, “Technical Sessions”, “Posters” and “Workshops”.

The strong Brazilian participation cover: 2 of the 9 Keynote Speakers, One of the two Co-Chairmen for each one of the 23 technical sessions, (23 of 46 Session Chairs), 6 of the 23 Lead Session Speakers and 18 of the 66 “Invited Session Speakers”. Gurthermore, the CEO/CTO Panel (Session #23) will have key Brazilian players such as Embraer, AIAB, Avibras, Mectron, Orbisat, Equatorial, Orbital, amongst others.

The Brazilian Technical Committee is also responsible to organize papers to be presented as posters. It is expected that one third of the 100 papers for the poster sessions will have input from Brazil.

Additionally, IEAv/CTA together with ABDI and CECOMPI will work with CANEUS Organization to conduct the Workshop activities.

New Short Courses

The Brazilian Technical committee has also been challenged to devise new short course based on needs from South America region. We are pleased to report the progress in developing the Short Course Sessions that are being taught by world-class experts in their respective fields. These short courses reflect the latest thinking by these experts on key aspects of the MNT-for-Aerospace development process.

CANEUS Brazil

The CANEUS 2008 Conference will provide Brazil with an exciting opportunity to showcase its vigorous aerospace industry activities to the rest of the world. It is CANEUS’ sincere hope that Brazil’s pioneering example will inspire other countries with aerospace aspirations, regionally within South America, to also participate in the CANEUS 2008 Conference.

By hosting CANEUS 2008 in Brazil, the International CANEUS Organization has made a long-term commitment to establishing CANEUS Brazil as a Regional Secretariat for South America.

About CANEUS

The CANEUS Organization has a worldwide mission of fostering successful collaborations leading to the cost-effective transition of emerging MNT concepts to system-level application. The biennial CANEUS Conferences are unique, and comprehensive events spanning all levels of Micro Nano Technology (MNT) development from research at the laboratory level to system-level development for aeronautics, space and defence applications. CANEUS Conferences are unlike any others in that they provide attendees with tangible, measurable deliverables in terms of practical approaches to transitioning a wide range of emerging MNT concepts to aerospace systems in a rapid and cost-effective manner. CANEUS conferences unite the worldwide communities of technology developers, end-users, and funding sponsors. The impressive list of speakers and attendees include world-renowned scientists, engineers, program managers, investors and policy-makers from across the globe. The 2-day workshop sessions at the CANEUS Conferences offer the forum for the Consortium to present its current status, develop/modify its future roadmap, and most importantly, vet new concepts that are submitted by CANEUS members to the Consortium.