IBM Corporation and the Bulgarian government have announced an agreement for cooperation in the field of nanoscience.

The agreement includes cooperation between IBM and the Bulgarian government in order to encourage industry, universities and the Bulgarian Academy of Science to work together in nanoscience.

On April the Bulgarian government created state-owned company, called Bulgarian Nanotechnology Center, which with the help of IBM will apply for EU Seventh Framework Programme funding. According to the agreement the cooperation will last for three years and includes education of Bulgarian scientists within the IBM scientific centers.

This Center will make use of an IBM and Bulgarian scientists from BAS and Bulgarian Universities. Two laboratories will take place in the center, owned by Sofia University and Technical University Sofia.

Once the center is created, its Bulgarian government intends to conduct applied research into: microfluidics and nanofluidics, for life science applications; nanoelectronics and nanoscale sensors and actuators for use in point-of-care, environmental and security monitoring; and nanomaterials, particularly on compound semiconductor substrates.