Reframing the Concept of Nanotechnology an Industry or Not?

It is now 14 years since the concept of a research center for nanotechnology was first conceived by Rick Smalley and subsequently approved by the Board of Governors of Rice University. As a consequence, the Center for Nanoscale Science and Technology (renamed the “Smalley Institute” in memory of Rick) was funded without federal or state money and the world’s first university building dedicated to nanotechnology was opened on Rice’s campus in 1997. Subsequently almost every university in the United States has formed a nanotechnology center of one kind or another, and many have constructed buildings as foundations for future research. One of the stated goals of each nanotechnology center is to promote the development of applications of nanoscience and nanotechnology.