Category: Nanodot

An article on the Small Times website ("HP Official: 'Ignorance and greed' could spoil nanotech's credibility", by Jeff Karoub) reports an address to the Nanotech Planetís Fall 2001 Conference and Expo in Boston on 29 November 2001, by R. Stanley Williams, a leading nanotechnology researcher and director of Hewlett-Packardís Quantum Science Research. According to the article, Williams said a major challenge facing the immature nanotechnology field is not the science, but the combination of misleading media reports and venture capitalists looking for the next big thing in the wake of the dot-com collapse.
"Ignorance and greed meeting in the marketplace is a recipe for disaster," Williams told attendees from business, government and academia. "As a consequence, the field will lose credibility and momentum."

Williams also noted that even though most nanotech-related research in the United States is funded by the federal government, that funding represents only a tiny fraction of the federal research and development budget, and is unlikely to see any large increases. He said most nanotech research concepts currently go unfunded.

from the chemists-at-work dept.
The November issue of Todayís Chemist At Work, a publication of the American Chemical Society, trumpets a pair of feature articles on nanotechnology. One article ("Manipulating molecules", by Hank Simon) provides an extensive overview of the development of the system that combined virtual reality and an atomic force microscope to create a nanoManipulator. The system was developed at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC-CH) and is being marketed as a commercial product by a spinoff firm, 3rdTech.
A second feature article discusses organic conductive polymers in really flat panel displays (which you might roll up in your pocket), but the nanotech connection is tenuous at best.
There is also a very short news item on private investment in nano-materials and nanotech firms.

An article in the Daily Collegian (" Nanotechnology department gets recognized", by Catherine Turner, 26 November 2001), the campus newspaper of the University of Massachusetts campus in Amherst, provides information on recent funding for nano-scale research projects there.

from the World-Watch dept.
An article in the Taipei Times ("Nanotechnology's promise hailed", by Chiu Yu-Tzu, 16 November 2001) in Taiwan reports on comments made by Liu Jong-min, general director of the Industrial Technology Research Institute's (ITRI) material research laboratories, at a recent international conference on nanotechnology held in Taipei. Liu said that Taiwan's manufacturing industry was one of the nation's great strengths, but that the shortage of highly-trained professionals in the nanotechnology field was worrisome. ITRI is the lead agency for Taiwanís program to establish a Center for Applied Nanotechnology Institute, as reported here on 18 July 2001.

Meanwhile, on the mainland, at a conclave of Hong Kong-based academics and researchers, concern was expressed over the lack of government funding for nanotechnology-related research efforts. This according to a report from the South China Morning Post (20 November 2001) was reprinted on the Small Times website.

from the World-Watch dept.
A lengthy article on the SmallTimes website ("Sweden is spreading the word about its small tech initiative", by Jayne Fried, 15 November 2001) provides a good overview of nanoscale science research and development work there.

from the World-Watch dept.
According to a press release (14 November 2001), the national government of Canada and the provincial government of Alberta, as well as the University of Alberta (U of A) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to build the new National Research Council (NRC) National Institute for Nanotechnology (NINT) at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Alberta. This agreement formalizes the plan for the NINT announced in August 2001.
"Canada has the opportunity to be a world leader in this emerging high technology field," said Anne McLellan, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada at the signing ceremony. "This national institute will be a centrepiece of Canada's emerging nanotechnology sector by successfully integrating and leveraging the strengths of the NRC, U of A and the Province of Alberta in this field."

For an excellent overview of the worldwide acceleration of nanotechnology research activities, with an emphasis on Canadaís efforts and a Canadian perspective, a lengthy article appeared in the Montreal Gazette ("Montreal looms large on nanotechnology scale", by Doug Sweet, 3 November 2001).

For a bit of perspective on the recent spate of advances in molecular electronics, there is an interview ("Nano panelist sees molecular devices and next step toward smaller, cheaper, faster devices", by Emily M. Smith) in the ASME News in which James J. Marek, Jr., president and chief executive officer of California Molecular Electronics Corp. (CALMEC; not to be confused with Houston-based Molecular Electronics Corporation, or MEC.), discussed his views on the implications and applications of molecular electronics technology. Marek was one of three experts on nanotechnology who participated in the keynote panel discussion at the ASME International Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exposition in New York on 12 November 2001.

(MEC, the firm established by James Tour, Mark Reed and their partners, has updated and expanded its website. It provides some useful background information about the firm.)

In a keynote address to the International Conference on Computer Aided Design (ICCAD) in San Jose, California on 5 November 2001, Thomas N. Theis, director of physical sciences at IBM's Thomas J. Watson Research Center, predicted that self-assembled nanoscale devices will eventually replace silicon transistor devices. Theis predicted that in 10 years chemically synthesized nano-building blocks will begin to replace semiconductor logic and memory devices, and within 20 to 50 years we should see pervasive use of self-assembly. The address was covered in EE Times ("IBM scientist sees nanotechnology supplanting transistors", by M. Santarini, 6 November 2001).

Update: The EETimes coverage of the ICCAD program also included a panel discussion, in which the panelists were asked to speculate on which applications will make the first use of nanotechnology, how soon nanotechnology will be widely introduced, and how the technology will affect design tools and methodologies. The panelists included Theis, Philip Keukes from HP Labs and Eric Parker from Zyvex.

from the One-word:-nanoplastics dept.
For an upbeat but credulous look how the approaching advent of widespread nanotechnology is being viewed outside the scientific community, read the article in the December 2001 issue of Employment Review online ("Miniaturization fosters revolutionary future").