A report on the Chinese market for analytical instruments by the Chinese Analytical Instrument Association (CAIA) describes how domestic production accounts for less than one quarter of the total market, estimated at around $200 million. According to Dr Gordon Wilkinson, who edited a translated version of the report, “it’s clear that Chinese manufacturers have a strong position in technologies such as atomic absorption, where around two-thirds of the 13,000 installed units are Chinese-made. The same is true for GC where only 1,000 of the 3,000 to 3,500 units required by Chinese scientists are met by imports. Domestically-produced UV/vis spectrophotometers and electron microscopes also compete well with imports and, in atomic fluorescence spectroscopy, China is a world leader. However, the development and production of ICP, arc/spark, XRF and HPLC equipment, for example, is still weak by international standards.”
Gordon Wilkinson explains that for analytical techniques such as mass spectrometry, where improvements in functionality, accuracy, reliability, software and automation have widened the technology gap, “even when China has licensed technology from leading MS manufacturers, by the time local production begins, new products have been released internationally and Chinese scientists look to foreign suppliers for their purchases.”
The CAIA report takes the view that, “biotechnology will be the pillar industry of the 21st century”, so, if the technology gap on certain traditional instruments has widened too far for China to catch up, “then it is in biochemical separations and analysis that Chinese manufacturers have an opportunity of becoming world class suppliers”.
For details of The Chinese Analytical Instruments Market contact Judy Meek, Tel: +44-1342-835935, Fax: +44-1342-833488, analytical@compuserve.com.
The Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) has launched the Analytical Grand Prix to find the “brightest and best young analytical scientist in the UK and give them the money and resources to freely explore new creative ideas”. The winner of the competition, who must be under 35, will receive prize money of up to £90,000.
A qualifying round will be held at the end of September 1999, where judges will look for projects that will have a meaningful impact of the field of analytical science. Finalists will present more detailed plans at the RSC Annual Conference in April 2000. www.rsc.org/lap/rsccom/dab/agp.htm.
A series of awards, Metrology for World Class Manufacturing Awards 1999, have been announced. There are four categories open to metrology suppliers, scientists, researchers and organisations: Category One, Frontier Science and Measurement, for innovation in metrology and measurement standards; Category Two, Innovative Metrology, for applications of measurement technology in manufacturing; Category Three, Measurement for Manufactured Excellence, for proven applications of metrology which have contributed to wealth creation in the UK manufacturing scene; Category Four, Champions of Metrology, for individuals or organisations raising the profile of metrology for manufacturing excellence in the UK. For further information, contact Brendan Coyne, Metrology for World Class Manufacturing awards ’99, c/o Nexus Media Limited, Nexus House, Swanley, Kent BR8 8HU, UK.
A wide range of specialist analytical services is now being offered by Shell Global Solutions, part of the Royal Dutch/Shell Group. Multi-disciplinary facilities support activities ranging from standard chemical analyses and physical testing, through to complex investigations that provide insight into manufacturing or product quality problems. Skills in molecular spectroscopy are supported by a wide range of modern instruments in elemental analysis, solids and surface analysis, electron microscopy, separations and chromatography.
Typical analyses include the separation of complex mixtures followed by molecular characterisation of the individual components by NMR, mass spectrometry and IR; or the characterisation of protective films in a tribological contact by micro-IR, XPS and scanning electron microscopy, through to the determination of the components of environmental particulate matter by TEM, XRD and ICP-AES.
For further information contact Shell Global Solutions, Tel: +44-151-373-5763, Fax: +44-151-373-5654, analyse&measure@opc.shell.com.
The 5th Annual report on Community Research has been published by the European Commission. The report provides a general picture of both policy developments and research activities and presents some results obtained under the research programmes.
In 1998, Community research showed continuing growth: 6,200 new projects were launched, involving 28,000 partners and creating more than 90,000 collaboration links, including 83% between teams from different countries.
In 1999, the first calls for proposals for the 5th Framework Programme have been closed or will be shortly. It is concentrating on:
Further information is from available the Commission’s sites: http://europa.eu.int/, http://www.cordis.lu, http://europa.eu.int/comm/dg12/, http://europa.eu.int/comm/eurostat/ and http://www.jrc.org.
Unfortunately, there were some errors in the story on which our piece on “Fruit testing” in the last issue was based.
The meeting did not mark the end of the Concerted Action. ASTEQ will finish in February 2001, not February 1999. There were five electronic noses, not one. The equipment used included many more instruments. Further details can be obtained from the ASTEQ Coordinator, Dr D.N. Rutledge, rutledge@inapg.inra.fr, www.inapg.inra.fr/english/.
The 1st Biennial Show of Technologies and Industrial Processes held in Paris from 12 to 16 April 1999 attracted 20,337 visitors, 10% of whom were from 89 countries outside France. More than 1000 exhibitors attended: 280 in the Materials Processing sector, 313 in the Measurement, Control, Testing and Industrial Analysis sector and 231 in the Laboratory sector.
A recruitment web site owned and created by the academic community is now receiving more than 12,000 visitors a day. The service advertises job vacancies for academic institutions around the world. www.jobs.ac.uk.
Spectro has opened an Asia–Pacific Support centre in Chaiwan, Hong Kong, which is home to their new subsidiary Spectro Analytical Instruments (Asia-Pacific) Ltd.
Varian has received its largest order ever for NMR spectrometers. The Japanese Institute of Physical and Chemical Research (known as RIKEN for the abbreviation of its Japanese initials) is buying a number of high-field NMR spectrometers with 800 and 600 MHz magnets, worth about $6 million. RIKEN will use the NMR spectrometers to determine the structure of proteins being identified as part of the human genome project. The spectrometers are scheduled for installation in March 2000. www.varianinc.com
Spindler & Hoyer UK Ltd (a member of the LINOS group of companies) has changed its name to LINOS Photonics Ltd. sales@spindlerhoyer.co.uk, www.spindlerhoyer.co.uk.
Varian has entered into a reseller agreement with Seiko Instruments Inc. (SII) of Japan. Under the terms of the three-year contract, valued at a minimum of $2 million per year in sales, SII will resell the Vista line of simultaneous ICP-AES instruments in Japan. www.varianinc.com.
OMICRON Vakuumphysik GmbH and Oxford Instruments Research Instruments have announced their cooperation in the field of development of low temperature scanning probe microscopy systems. Complete low temperature SPM systems incorporating Oxford Instruments’ cryogenic technology will be available from OMICRON. www.omicron.de, www.oxford-instruments.com.
Base Peak is a development of Kermit Murray’s “Mass Spectrometry on the Internet” web site, developed by Wiley. New features include a glossary of mass spectrometry terms and abbreviations and free access to full text articles chosen for their specific relevance to Base Peak users. http://base-peak.wiley.com.
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The new company created by Hewlett-Packard’s realignment [News, Spectroscopy Europe 11(2), 6 (1999)] has announced that its corporate headquarters will be at 395 Page Mill Road in Palo Alto, CA, USA. This is the site where HP constructed its first building in 1943. It was in use as an HP production and manufacturing facility until 1995, when HP closed operations there. In 1998 the existing buildings were razed to make way for new facilities. www.hp.com. |
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The UV/vis spectrophotometry sales and marketing activities of Unicam UV-Visible Spectrometry (Cambridge, UK) and Spectronic Instruments (Rochester, USA) have integrated their operations in Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA). The name of the new operation is Spectronic Unicam EMEA, and it is based in Cambridge. uv.vis@unicaminstruments.com, www.unicaminstruments.com.
The acquisition of Perkin-Elmer’s Analytical Instruments Division by EG&G Instruments was completed on 1 June 1999. The Analytical Instruments Division will now be known as Perkin Elmer LLC. www.egginc.com.
Amersham Pharmacia Biotech has signed two major new deals with Proteomics LLC and Scientific Analysis Instruments Ltd. The deals are part of a drive by the company to develop a complete range of technologies for the fast-emerging field of proteomics and protein characterisation. Scientific Analysis Instruments will develop specially designed MALDI-TOF mass spectrometers, which will be integrated into future 2D electrophoresis/mass spectrometry systems. Proteometrics will develop its generic PROWL software to integrate with Amersham Pharmacia Biotech’s new mass spectrometry systems, which will come on stream later this year. http://proteomics.apbiotech.com.
A selection of consumable items from VG Elemental’s ICP/MS instrumentation range are now available direct from their web site. The commercially secure site enables registered customers to order and pay for items at competitive prices with despatch within hours. www.vgelemental.com.
Dr Ray Milward has joined Foxboro as European Product Specialist for the Process NMR Group. Ray was most recently Sales and Marketing Manager for Analect Instruments in Europe. rmilward@foxboro.com.
Perkin-Elmer’s Elan 6100 DRC ICP/MS instrument won the Pittcon Editor’s Gold Award at Pittcon 99. www.perkin-elmer.com.
STN International has announced the launch of STN on the web, offering browser access to 400 million database documents of evaluated scientific and technical information. rm@fiz-karlsruhe.de, www.fiz-karlsruhe.de.
Anachem’s Environmental Division has announced a collaboration with Macherey-Nagel over their water analysis products. samantha@anachem.co.uk.
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Hoechst Marion Roussel has joined sixteen other research organisations in Molecular Simulations’ Pharmaceutical Development Consortium. This collaborative project develops and applies molecular simulation software to the development and formulation of organic crystalline materials, particularly drugs. This technology is intended to reduce significantly the time and cost of bringing newly discovered therapeutics to market. www.msi.com. |