The news that Iran and Venezuela have signed a nanotechnology cooperation agreement seems to have raised a few eyebrows, which is probably what was intended. Or to put it in the evil dictator language beloved by the press “This news is a thorn in the eye of our enemies. Ha!” Far from being the creation of a new ‘axis of …
The 2011 Report on Global Nanotechnology Funding and Impact
In the last 11 years, governments around the world have invested more than US$67.5 billion in nanotechnology funding. When corporate research and various other forms of private funding are taken into account, nearly a quarter of a trillion dollars will have been invested in nanotechnology by 2015.
Nanotechnology in Electronics, a Primer on Life Cycle Risk Assessment
The Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition, which is not a biker gang but “a diverse organization engaged in research, advocacy and grassroots organizing to promote human health and environmental justice in response to the rapid growth of the high-tech industry” has released a report looking at “Nanotechnology in Electronics: The Risk to Human Health and the Environment” It doesn’t really add much to …
Nanotech Regulation – Fostering Innovation While Protecting Public Health
The White House Emerging Technologies Interagency Policy Coordination Committee (ETIPC) has developed a set of principles (pdf) specific to the regulation and oversight of applications of nanotechnology, to guide the development and implementation of policies at the agency level. I’m glad to see that it addresses those two old bugbears, the confusion between risk and hazard and the prejudging of issues …
RIP Charlie Harris – One Of The Good Guys of Nanotech
The world of nanotechnology is a little poorer today with the passing of Charlie Harris, founder and chairman of the publicly traded VC fund, Harris & Harris. Out of all the people buzzing around in the early days of nanotech, Charlie was one of the few people who got it, who understood that technology takes time to mature and that …
If We Build It They Will Come, But Not To Alaska
The University of Alaska Fairbanks closed its nanotechnology office on Wednesday, which neatly illustrates the problem of setting up a centre without giving much though to its purpose. Even those involved in the project didn’t seem to have much idea what they were doing and even what nanotechnology was… But nanotechnology was a tough field to break into, especially since Outside …
Stain Resistant Pants Are So 2002, Here Come The Nanotech Underpants
I bet you were expecting these to be stain resistant too, but the key application of nanotech underwear is medical sensing according to Business Week. The tight elastic waistband of underwear “has tight contact and direct exposure with the skin and it allows for direct sweat monitoring via the chemical-sensing electrodes. And it seems elastic is a hardy textile. Engineers at …
Migrating Buckyballs
Arrowhead Research announced today that it had sold off the IP of one of its subsidiaries, Tego, to Luna Innovations in exchange for $430,000 less legal and transaction fees in exchange for a cut of any proceeds. Luna of course have been looking at buckyballs for improved MRI contrast agents – careful here! it’s a tricky subject – for quite a …
Scant Returns For Nanotech Domain Squatters?
Within weeks of nanotechnology becoming hot news, most of the nanotech related top level domains had been snapped in the expectation that a trillion dollar industry would emerge faster than you could say dot.com. Bored with waiting for a pay off, many are now up for grabs. The folks at nanovip.com are unloading their list of hopefuls after failing to …
Toto, This isn’t 1997 any more!
The Wall Street Journal points to further evidence of the collapse of Venture Capital. Typical of the doom laden quotes is this: “Dallas is an entrepreneurial city, but it won’t be driven by venture capital going forward,” said Daniel T. Owen, a venture capitalist at the 16th-floor firm H02 Partners, which plans to wind down its venture business over the next few …