Winston-Salem has jbeen named the host city for the 2013 Nanotech Commercialization Conference.

The conference is hosted by the NanoBusiness Commercialization Association, a non-profit trade organization with the mission of promoting the “commercialization of products designed and developed through the science of nanotechnology,” according to its website.

The Center of Innovation for Nanobiotechnology, which is based in Durham, will help organize the event.

Winston-Salem is well suited to host the conference.

Now in its fifth year, the conference comes to Winston-Salem for the first time. The city has become a hotbed for technology-driven industries. The city is home to a growing number of nanotech and biotech companies, many housed in the city’s Piedmont Triad Research Park, which is undergoing extensive renovation.

Additionally, a number of nearby colleges and universities are offering programs that prepare students for these growing fields.

Wake Forest University’s Center for Nanotechnology and Molecular Materials serves as a research center and infrastructural resource for the industry. Forsyth Technical Community College offers a two-year Associate of Applied Science in Nanotechnology, the only degree of its kind in the Southeast. The program gives students hands-on experience for employment in the growing nanotech industry.

Last year’s conference, held in Durham’s American Tobacco Historic District, attracted over 300 attendees, who heard from more than 50 speakers and presenters. The conference has also been held in Charlotte and Greensboro.

The conference will take place April 9-10, 2013 at the Wake Forest Biotech Place building in downtown Winston-Salem. The newly-renovated facility, which opened in February, comprises two former R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. buildings.

(C) NC Biotech Center