by Art Gillis

Yesterday I attended a meeting where I knew I’d be totally out of my element. How right I was. The title was: Commercialization of Nanotechnology in Texas. It was held at the University of Texas at Dallas. Right from the get-go, I felt out of place. The campus was so vast, that it could have fit MIT, Harvard, Stanford and a few more top universities with parking space to spare. The Cowboys could have even built their new stadium there without cutting a tree or leveling the land. And the buildings all looked alike, as if they were built in one six month period. If the labs had “clean rooms” for their research, then the builders got carried away and extended it outside. I was looking for a candy wrapper in the gutter just to make me feel at home, but there weren’t even any gutters. This was not Boston as I was used to. But enough of the environment. Inside the house was packed, with mostly real players - inventors, scientists, engineers, researchers, educators, innovators, put-your-money-where-your-brains-are business men, investors, lawyers and consultants. I could tell by their questions. Knowing nothing about nanotechnology at noon, by 1:30, I had at least satisfied my curiosity.

• I now know what it is. Think so tiny that you can’t see it. Think of it as something added to material, such as sun screen or paper currency or khaki pants. Think of a billionth of a meter. So you know it’s small. But what does it do? Name a material or substance and nano will make it better. One panelist picked up a piece of paper and said, “paper will be better.” I can’t imagine improving the paper I use today, but what if nano can make it fireproof, or wrinkle proof, or dog proof? There goes my grandson’s homework excuse.
• I believe the panel when they answered a question about where it will be deployed. The answer was, “Where won’t it be?”
• I believe it will have practical application - low cost with significant benefits to end users.
• I believe what the panel said. It’s here now but you won’t see a billion dollar company for another 20 years. In a world that lives by “speed to market” this panel was counting decades.

Speaking of the panel, There wasn’t a single yahoo at the table. What a refreshing change. If anything was being “sold”, it was patience, participation, awareness and more of what was taking place in the SRO comfortable auditorium, which by the way, was donated by TI.

I’ll borrow the last comment offered by the head of a state agency created to help fund new ventures - stay tuned.

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