Industry experts estimate that nanotech R&D spending will top $8.6B this year alone. That's a pretty impressive investment, especially considering how skittish and confused the nanotech market has been with Nanosys pulling its IPO a couple weeks ago. That whole situation threw a wrench in what many saw as the beginning of a true nanotech market, as up 'til now, there are few products out there that incorporate nanotechnology. Some may have had hopes that were flying too high as no IPO is going to make a product suddenly appear (as we all painfully remembered in 2001 with the tech bubble).
The governments' contribution for that R&D money is hefty, but I'm also cheered that private sources are seeing that the R&D done now may make substantial contributions later and they're willing to invest in the technologies. This is only a fraction of what is being spent on research in biotechnology (with estimates of spending on research alone for drugs of $30+B-$40B).
As some of you readers may recall, the U.S. bill that authorized $3.7 billion in spending in nanotech over 4 years generated some flak for cutting out an original provision for funding for molecular assembly studies. Many assume, though, that as more nanotech discoveries come about, money for these specific technologies (and somewhat riskier investments will show up).
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