One thing that the scores of VCs currently going cold on nanotech are realising, apart from the complete and utter lack of the fabled nanotech industry, is that the distinction between nanoscience and nanotechnology is no different from that between science and technology. Scientists around the world have become accustomed to the sight of sharp suited young men showing signs of obvious frustration when faced with a ten year wait for commercial applications, and tend to go back to poking and prodding things at the molecular level to see if there is a way to resolves the observations into any kind of mathematical certainty.
A typical example came this week with the announcement of a new class of material, which brings computer chips made from a single molecule a step closer. While graphene, a two dimenional form of grpahite, is nothing particularly new, the production of larger areas of it is. Just like other fullerenes, we are witnessing the media getting excited about faster cheaper electronics, when , also just like other fullerenes, graphene will probably end up being used in minute quantities in golf clubs and tennis rackets, long before anyone cracks the problem of integrating it with micro or nano electronics. In the meantime, researchers will continue to put up with hordes of eager young venture capitalists looking for the next big thing (provided it doesn’t take more than three years to get an IPO or trade sale).