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Science Panel Calls for Balanced Research Spending
Tuesday, March 26, 2002
By George Leopold
EE Times

WASHINGTON
The House Science Committee is calling for increased federal funding in fiscal 2003 for technology research and development programs and for a balancing of funding for biomedical and physical science research.

In its annual "views and estimates" of the federal budget request, the Republican-controlled science panel said the Bush administration's research budget request is skewed heavily in support of biomedical research, especially at the National Institutes of Health, which is slated to receive an annual budget increase larger than the entire $5.04 billion budget requested for the National Science Foundation.
(More: EE Times News Source)
2002 © CMP Media LLC.

The Tech Outlook

No, its not all hype: these supertiny gizmos will transform our way of life

SPRING 2002
BusinessWeek

There isn't a nano-name company among this year's BW50 companies, and there won't be next year, either. But there are plenty of hopefuls. With all the hype about nanotechnology now swirling around Wall Street, you have no doubt already encountered some nanonewcomer with a catchy name like Nanogram, NanoOpto, Nanophase, NanoProducts, Nanosphere, or Technanogy.

More than 300 nano-whippersnappers in the U.S. and overseas are targeting what promises to be a new Industrial Revolution. Nanotechnology will leave virtually no business untouched -- or unscathed. The ability to create materials from building blocks the size of a virus (page 182) will unleash unprecedented capabilities. Autos and airplanes, chemicals and plastics, computers and chips, cosmetics and drugs--all of these industries, and plenty more, are facing upheavals that could make the advent of the Internet seem like a minor adjustment.

Tiny upstarts aren't the only ones noticing that small is beautiful. Nano is receiving enthusiastic scrutiny from some big companies in the Standard & Poor's 500-stock index. Led by IBM (IBM), Lucent Technologies (LU), and Hewlett-Packard (HWP), along with Samsung and Siemens (SI), industrial heavyweights are pumping significant sums into nanotech research, as are governments around the world. A new study from CMP Cientifica, a market researcher in Madrid, says last year's worldwide government figure topped $1.2 billion (page 184). This year, the private and public sectors will probably spend $2 billion apiece on nano.

For insurance, big-name companies also are investing in nano-newbies--or teaming up with them. BASF (BF), ChevronTexaco (CVX), DuPont (DD), and NEC (NIPNY) are tapping the expertise of startups, most of which were founded by university researchers. Mitsubishi Electric Corp. last year set up a $100 million fund to invest in nanotech, and Dow Chemical Co. (DOW) in 2000 bought Dendritech Inc.'s dendrimer technology to serve as the basis for a future family of nanoscale polymers. All told, venture capitalists and corporate funds will probably plow $1 billion into nano-investments this year, twice what they invested in 2000, says S. Joshua Wolfe, a partner at New York's Lux Capital Group.
(More: BusinessWeek Online News Source)
2002 © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

Related Links and Stories:
* NanoTechnology Magazine
NanoTechnology Magazine

* Nanodot.org News Page
The Foresight Institute

* Bush Calls for 17 Percent Increase in Spending for Nanotech Programs
Doug Brown -- SmallTimes Media
Tuesday, February 5, 2002

* Nanotech initiative's focus: Measurement
Scott R. Burnell -- United Press International
Tuesday, February 10, 2002

* Bush Proposes Deep Cuts to Program that Funds High-Risk Nanotechnology
Doug Brown -- SmallTimes Media
Monday, February 11, 2002

* Bush Proposes Large Increases for DOD, NIH R&D; Mix of Cuts and Increases for Other R&D Programs
American Association for the Advancement of Science
Thursday, February 7, 2002

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