Applied Nanotechnology

CHAPTER 9 The Business Environment

In Chapter 3, innovation was examined as an essential part of the development of nanotechnology. This theme is now taken up again with particular reference to the financing of nanotechnology enterprises.

9.1 The Universality of Nanotechnology

Reference is often made to the diversity of nanotechnology. Indeed, some writers insist on referring to it in the plural as nanotechnologies (perhaps an unnecessarily refined nuance). Inevitably, a technology concerned with building matter up atom by atom is a universal technology with enormous breadth.¹ Nanostructured materials are incorporated into nanoscale devices, which in turn are incorporated into many products, as documented in Part 2. An artefact is considered ...