Nanotech Commercialization in the United States [Commercialization]

In the previous issue, I focused on R&D trends and also referred to concerns regarding the United States and the importance of maintaining steady funding by the public and private sectors for emerging technologies such as nanotech. The overall R&D funding climate is always a leading indicator of future innovation activity, and delays or reductions can spread out the time necessary to bring to market commercial products. Though companies and even the government become hard pressed to keep up the pace in a down economy, the ramifications of falling behind can be severe in terms of lost opportunities and competitiveness. Many areas of nanotechnology are still in a nascent stage of development, and sudden breakthroughs may lead to strong disruptions in existing technology and product markets in relatively short order.