Mario Hofmann

This year Taiwan hosted the 13th International conference on New Diamond and Nanocarbons (NDNC) from May 12th to 17th. The conference was jointly organized by National Taiwan University, National Cheng Kung University, National Dong Hwa University and Academia Sinica and featured an impressive line-up of speakers and attendees. Over 200 scientists from 19 countries, including the U.S., Russia, Germany, and South Africa, visited Taiwan to participate in this conference which can trace its lineage back 30 years. This year represents the second time NDNC was in Taiwan and many attendees still had fond memories of the 2008 conference in Taipei.

The plan for NDNC 2019 was very ambitious in both scale and design. A new feature for NDNC conferences was the choice of the organizers to hold the conference in two separate locations. On Sunday, May 12th, Vice President of Academia Sinica, Mei-Yin Chou gave opening remarks on NTU campus before a reception. On Monday morning, a chartered train took the attendees to Hualien.

In the Farglory hotel, a week-long conference began and 124 talks were given, including 4 plenary presentations by the world’s preeminent researchers on diamond. Plenary talks by Prof. Ho-Kwang Mao from Carnegie Institution, who pioneered high pressure measurements, Prof. Boris Yakobson from Rice University, and Prof. Toshiaki Enoki drew large attention and were complemented by a highly regarded overview from local scientist Prof. Huan-Cheng Chang from Academia Sinica. After the plenary talks, three parallel sessions developed which focused on the materials science, physics, and applications of diamonds. The great interest from companies, both Taiwanese and international, showed the big potential of diamonds and nanocarbons in biotechnology, energy storage, and electronics. In addition to excellent talks, conference participants had the chance to interact with local students and discuss about their work in two poster sessions. True to the conference topic, the winner of the poster competition received a real diamond which had been grown rather than mined.

The active exchange of new ideas and chances to initiate collaborations were also supported by the social component of the conference. Supported by domestic and international sponsors, the organizers introduced the beautiful scenery of Taiwan by arranging excursions to Taroko National Park and the Eastern coast. Hungry from the sightseeing, local restaurants were sampled after the conference and international visitors were introduced to typical seafood, traditional dishes, and authentic hot-pot. Finally, cultural performances from local dancing groups helped make the conference memorable to all its attendees.

Next year’s NDNC conference in Japan will try its best to duplicate a conference as successful and impressive as NDNC 2019 in Taiwan.