Nanotechnology Business

Nanotechnlogy business is of great significance today. Nanoscale science and technology enhanced/developed products promise to benefit all domains of consumables- foods, beverages and medicine, to, cosmetics, textiles and ornamental jewelry. Sensors on-board automobiles, cars and spaceships, to, green-energy, electronics and IT. There must be an exceptional domain which stands not to gain from the advantages of understanding and engineering of the nanoscale (literally bottom up).

However, a discipline with so much potential for advancement has remained limited to a very few industries. It is of no doubt that nanotechnology can be useful but what is of doubt is that in our business driven society does nanotechnology have a generic business model?

Most of the nanotechnology based products are manufactured in clean rooms. The infrastructure required to build a clean room [a controlled environment where pressure, temperature, humidity and most importantly cleanliness is strictly controlled] is so expensive that a handful of countries outside the developed world possess it for research. Likewise for businesses, lack of easy-to-implement nanotechnological features cost-effectively in products make the whole exercise a 'no-go' before a feasibility report is outlined.

If most countries do not have the research infrastructure (local knowledge base) and the industry finds it too expensive- obviously nanotechnology for all its promise may remain in-hatching unless a disruptive technology shakes us. Social impact of a high-entry-barrier in nanotechnology can be more detrimental - whenever nanotech takes off it shall only be the developed world making profit since the research itself was so difficult to undertake elsewhere, creating a wider divide amongst poor and rich countries.

Summarizing above, it all boils down to cost of nanotechnology.

One model which has succeeded in resolving the questions above is the multi-project center (MPC) model. A large facility, either government funded or in a public-private partnership model can set up the infrastructure (clean rooms and such) to be shared by the local universities and regional industry. IMEC in Belgium and LETI in France are great examples. While universities supply manpower for research into unexplored territories companies fund research projects to find the best solutions for their businesses and patent them.  The manpower on the floor is skilled and employed by the MPC.

A MPC can be national/regional infrastructure fostering the growth of nanotech solutions for the advancement of society just as highways developed the automobile industry. [A more fitting analogy may perhaps be electricity to every household but today when 4/5 (Hans Rosling's statistics) of the world lacks basic health care and services, such an analogy though appropriate, is sadly ahead of its time.]

A model such as a regional MPC, would not only ensure industries flourish but also create wealth of knowledge locally, while stepping forward towards the technology of the future. If this seems an experimental idea then note that on this model some parts of the world are producing most of the high-technology products in the market.

Apple's Iphone 4 - Whats nano about that ?

Apple unveiled the new iphone 4 yesterday in San Francisco, their design homeland from where originate their license to publish 'Designed in California' on all products.
It is an amazing product with many new features well visible here (this would need quicktime installed). With this product Apple aims to re-conquer lost ground after Google's android and other smartphones capitalized market and application developer's inclination.


At the heart of the great many features is the new A4 processor manufactured by Samsung. Wherein lies nanotechnology..this new processor is made of transistors (the basic binary computing unit used in electronics today) with features as small as 45 nanometers (nm), roughly a thousand times smaller than the thickness of human hair. For an amazing analysis of the chip see details here.


Simply put:
Smaller the transistors, larger their number on a chip. Thus, either the device can be smaller or if the chip is still the same size then faster or both. Earlier versions were made by the 65nm technology.


For the new iphone 4 Apple has chosen both increased speed and reduced size and Samsung has delivered.


This new A4 processor can clock 1GHz speed which allows the software gurus to harness this capacity by multi-threading, piping; otherwise, efficient coding etc. amply visible in the use of any Apple Operating System.


Great advance in nanotechnology by Samsung coupled with novel Apple OS has produced the new marvel - Iphone 4.