At the end of last year, the U.S. government committed $3.7 billion in funding to a technology that few people had even heard of a few years ago. Big corporations are investing $3 billion in it this year. And venture capital firms have poured $1 billion into small startups that focus on it over the past five years.
Nanotechnology — the science of manipulating molecules and atoms — is the hottest technology to come along since the Internet. Like the Net, it offers the staggering potential to change millions of people’s lives and transform countless industries. And, like the Net, it is the subject of overblown hyperbole and investor speculation. Will the reality match the hype? Will nanotech bring mega-profits — or will those profits, like nanotech itself, be too small for most people to see?
Let’s begin with a look at the potential of the technology. Nanotechnology focuses on matter that is smaller than 100 nanometers. A nanometer is one-billionth of a meter. To understand how small that is, consider this: If you put 80,000 nanometers side by side, you would have the width of one human hair. At this size, it’s possible to work with atoms and molecules to create tiny computers, security sensors, health-care treatments, ultrathin TVs, super-strong materials, and thousands of other innovative new products.
As the National Science Foundation raves on its Web site: “Imagine a medical device that travels through the human body to seek out and destroy small clusters of cancerous cells before they can spread. Or a box no larger than a sugar cube that contains the entire contents of the Library of Congress. Or materials much lighter than steel that possess 10 times as much strength.”
The foundation predicts that nanotechnology will revolutionize industries like manufacturing, electronics, drugs, aerospace, and many more. It projects the total value of the nanotech market at $1 trillion by 2015.
Because of predictions like that one, venture capitalists and individual investors have started to pump millions of dollars into nanotech firms, hoping to get in at the beginning of the boom.
But not everyone sees nanotech as a way to get rich. In fact, the frenzy for nanotech stocks resembles the mania for Internet IPOs a few years ago. Recently, such publications as the Wall Street Journal, USA Today,...
