By the time the picture of Don Eigler's quantum corral had been shown for the third time, the assembled journalists were none the wiser about what nanotechnology means to the average European. There were explanations about how we can push atoms around with the tip of an STM, and even make brighter light bulbs - the objective is more efficient bulbs, not brighter, which may sound like quibbling, but the EU should get its facts right as access to the scientific community is never a problem for funding bodies.
Many of the questions were along the lines of "What can nanotechnology do for us?" and "How much is Europe spending on nanotechnology ?", both of which address significant communication failures. Next week I will try to get to the bottom of the EU funding mystery.
But what can nanotechnology do for us? The computer-generated animations look fantastic, but governments around the world are not financing movies. Making pretty pictures with atoms is all very well but we shouldn't lose sight of the fact that nanotechnology is just an enabler. It enables us to make things better, faster, greener, more cheaply - all of the things that we want to do in business anyway. From a business perspective, industry wants nanotechnology to help develop new products, open up new markets, increase the share of existing markets, and improve margins. Not to put too fine a point on it, how can businesses make more money? Nanotechnology can help business do all of this and more.
This can be achieved not by merely pushing atoms around, but by understanding how those atoms interact with other atoms to develop novel properties that can be used in our everyday lives.
A word of caution, however. I recently visited a medical imaging company that was promoted as a nanotechnology company and asked a few questions. What sort of nanotechnology are you doing exactly? Well, it seems that nanoelectronics may allow them, possibly, to pack more into each pixel and nanomaterials may improve their products in ways that are yet to be determined. How is the company financed? By its main customer and various government grants. So for a five year old company with few customers, and no technology other than microelectronics to be promoted as a nanotechnology company should set the alarm bells ringing in Brussels. At least I hope they are ringing, it's my, and your, tax euros we're spending here.
It is the responsibility of the science and business communities to ensure that they can communicate clearly about nanotechnology, whether it is about what they are funding or the products they are producing.