Alberta's first nanotechnology centre opened Wednesday with the goal of turning ideas into products that can be sold around the world.

The Alberta Centre for Advanced Microsystems and Nanotechnology Products received $8 million from the province and $3.5 million from the federal government. Located in the Edmonton Research Park, it's expected to help the province's nanotechnology sector promote its products in global markets.

It will also help in the areas of packaging and assembly, and business and product development.

"It's incredible the number of emerging technology companies in Alberta with the potential to develop exciting new consumer products for world-wide markets," Ken Brizel, the recently appointed chief executive officer of the centre, said Wednesday.

"Alberta is a prime location for world-class research, and ACAMP can provide the means to turn research into viable products. In fact, we are already helping our clients produce marketable products to compete globally."

In June, the Alberta government introduced a plan to bring nanotechnology to market. Alberta has said it hopes to capture two per cent of the nanotechnology market within the next decade.

Nanotechnology, which is Latin for "dwarf technology," has medical and industrial applications. It is the science of building machines on an atomic and molecular scale, or the making or manipulating of tiny particles such as atoms and molecules on the scale of a nanometre, which is one-billionth of a metre.

Products made by Alberta companies include nano-particle coatings to increase the service life of earth-moving machine blades and motion sensors for use in electronics.