A recent post on Spectrum IEEE discusses the issues of industry selection and business model for nanotechnology business. According to the author, these issues can determine whether the techology finally takes off or not.
Just trying to sell some newly discovered nanomaterial is not likely to succeed. Instead you select an industry where the material has applications and develop the whole application process. In the example cited, the company Nanosys synthesized quantum dot phosphor material, which it subsequently packaged into a form called Quantum Rail.
The Quantum Rail can be easily integrated into the LCD display manufcturing process used today. Nanosys sold the Quantum Rail lighting system to LG for its mobile phone applications.
Another company, Nano-Tex, developed the idea of changing the properties of fabrics at nanoscale into an entire practical process before selling it.
In addition to developing a full process-ready solution the companies in both the above cases selected industries that are not as closely regulated as many others. For example, if they had selected a healthcare application, it is most likely that the processes would still have been under a trial phase.
Read the blog post at Spectrum IEEE.
