Disturbing news reaches us about an outbreak of severe officiousness in the UK Nanotechnology initiative.
According to several sources, a well known UK nanotech related company got into very hot water for placing some of their brochures on the stand of their regional development agency at the recent Nanotech 2005 exhibition in Tokyo. The powers that be had an apoplectic fit and confiscated the offending literature on the grounds that the company was not an SME (although neither were many of the academic institutions exhibiting). Why the UK should be refusing to promote all of its nanotechnology expertise is a mystery to us.
We are not sure whether the company in question has now been placed in detention, or even given six of the best from the DTI, but it highlights the high handed and officious way that the UK seems to approach nanotechnologies. Lashing out at, and refusing to promote some of the UKs nanotechnology companies, seems somewhat counter productive, especially in the light of the DTIs recent mismanagement of all things nano related.
In the meantime, any UK companies wishing to relive their schooldays now have an alternative to taking lunch at Schooldinners.