Dr Gary Albach has been appointed interim CEO of Alberta Innovates — Technology Futures, one of four new corporations being established as part of the province's realignment of its research and innovation organizations and programs (see brief on this page). Albach was previously executive director of nanoAlberta where he spearheaded several important collaborations to strengthen ties to industry and academia. He was previously Entrepreneur-in-Residence at the Univ of British Columbia and CEO of Northwest Mettech Corp, a Vancouver-based nanomaterials company specializing in industrial ceramic coatings. Albach was the founder of UBC's first official spin-off in 1976. As a physics and astronomy graduate, he formed Vortek Industries which was sold to its US partner in 2004. He holds an honours BSc from the Univ of Waterloo and a PhD in physics from UBC....