Article Three:
Coming to YOU.
Nanotechnology and IBM come to Egypt.
Nanotechnology. Sounds like a foreign word describing some high-tech gadget from outer space doesn’t it? But did you know that Egypt will soon be heading one of the world’s leading nanotechnology research centers? Just last month, the Egyptian government signed an agreement with IBM to introduce a new nanotechnology research center here in Egypt, which is expected to staff 1000 scientists and engineers! These Egyptian scientists will have the amazing opportunity to work side by side with leading IBM nanoscientist experts from their international labs, collaborating on projects with labs in Zurich, Switzerland; Almaden, California, and Yorktown Heights, New York.
Why was Egypt selected for this expensive (around $30 million US dollars) and cutting-edge technology facility? There are a number of reasons, but one important factor is that Egypt is starting to make a transition to what the experts call a “knowledge-based society”. What does that mean? A knowledge-based society is a society where what is most important is not the products you make in your factories, but the “know-how” that goes into making those products. A knowledge-based society is one that is run on “mind-power”, that taps into the creative energies and insights of its human potential. This sort of society requires that students and workers think for themselves, think creatively, “think outside the box”, and share new knowledge and ideas with each other. These new and sometimes outrageous ideas are the fuel that runs the engines of the new industry and society.
The spread of the internet (including social networking sites like Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace, etc., innovative learning projects like Wikipedia, and search engines like Google) has greatly facilitated the transition of industrial societies to knowledge-based ones. Your internet surfing does more than just take time away from your homework, in fact, it has become a great tool to do your homework, to learn about the rest of the world, and to connect with others worldwide.
But more is needed to become a "knowledge-worker" than just internet surfing. That is why the Egyptian government, in addition to signing on for the new IBM center, also signed a second agreement with IBM to make modifications to the national curriculum in Egypt. They plan to introduce something called Services Science, Management and Engineering (SSME) into your education. That’s basically a fancy way of saying that your classes are going to become updated to give you a head start with science, technology and business.
But what about nanoscience? How can you learn about that? Nanoscience is the science and technology of the future, everyone from business managers to scientists to lawyers and doctors will need to be informed about this. For further information, please contact in2nano@sabrycorp.com.
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The above article was written by the in2nano team and published by Teenstuff magazine. (Note: this web version is slightly edited from the TeenStuff edition)
