Tiny new worlds, plus a trade show
BYLINE: Tech Bytes ANDREW WEBB Of the Journal
What do computer chips, canola oil, bacteria-fighting socks and tennis rackets have in common?
They're all old products that in recent years have benefited greatly, albeit quietly, from scientists' increasing ability to manipulate their molecular building blocks.
The fledgling 21st century has seen leaps and bounds in the fields of nanotechnology and micro-electromechanical systems, or MEMS. And though you might not have noticed it, companies now sell hundreds of consumer products they say incorporate nanotech and MEMS.
Thin coatings bonded right to the molecules of your khakis keep spilled coffee from soaking in. Tiny accelerometers notice you've dropped your laptop and lock its hard drive before it hits the floor. Cosmetics firms develop moisturizers with molecules so small that they penetrate deep into your skin. Athletic supply companies say they're using carbon nanotubes to strengthen ski poles, rackets and other lightweight gear.
But as the market's hunger for such products grows, tech company executives seeking to feed it will have to navigate a whole new field of obstacles.
David Forman, editor in chief of tiny tech industry publication Small Times, will aim to outline some of those during a free event at the University of New Mexico's Science and Technology Park next week.
Like the Internet, Forman said, nanotech and MEMSrelated technologies may have suffered from intense hype - and the accompanying economic development braying and investor chance-taking - at their outset.
"Like the Internet, we haven't talked much about the nanotech revolution as much since 2000," he acknowledges. "But their progress has been pervasive. It's encroached on everything."
Globally, companies sold $32 billion worth of nanotech-related products last year, according to the nonprofit Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies.
Customers camping out in front of electronics stores to pick up Nintendo's new Wii game consoles exemplify that. The remote control-size devices contain tiny accelerometers and gyroscopes that measure a video-game player's movements and replicate them as a tennis swing or turn of a steering wheel.
"That was a milestone to my mind," Forman said.
But entrepreneurs seeking to commercialize these diminutive technologies face a whole new world of difficulties.
New federal regulations on publicly traded companies make NASDAQ initial public offerings - a favorite exitstrategy for lifeblood-giving venture capitalists - less tempting.
Government-funded labs and universities have had success creating tiny electronics, like so-called "labs on chips," but manufacturing and packaging such complex, delicate devices has proved much more challenging than making run-of-the-mill computer chips.
Public concern about the safety and environmental effects of untested, invisible materials has driven debate about creating new regulations to govern the creation and manufacture of such substances.
And, like genetically manipulating plants or other organic materials, toying with the building blocks of elements opens up a whole new world of intellectual property and patent concerns.
"I want to lay out that whole universe," Forman said.
Forman will speak during a Dec. 5 meeting of the Nano-Network of New Mexico, a group that aims to network nanotech and MEMS researchers, entrepreneurs and companies. The event is free, and begins at 5:30 p.m. at the Science and Technology Park's auditorium, at 801 University SE. Food and beverages will be served.
For more information, contact Katie Szczepaniak, chair of the Nano-Network of New Mexico and local representative for Wasatch Venture Fund, at katie@wasatchvc.com.
MEXICO PLASTICS AND
METALS TRADE SHOW:
This came to us rather late, but the International Business Accelerator, a program of the New Mexico Small Business Development Center Network, invites any New Mexico companies interested in doing plastics and metals business in Mexico to join them in Juárez later this week for a major industry trade show.
Plastimetal 2006 will showcase metal stamping, plastic injection molding, resin, die and equipment suppliers and other plasticand metal-related businesses in Juárez, El Paso and southern New Mexico.
The IBA will have a booth at the event highlighting New Mexico firms, and The New Mexico Economic Development Partnership will hold a cocktail reception at the event, which is being organized by a Mexican maquila trade group. It runs Wednesday through Thursday at the Cibeles Convention Center in Juárez.
For more information, visit www.plastimetalmx.com, or call Peter Ibarbo, of the International Business Accelerator, at (505) 589-2200.
Andrew Webb covers technology for the Journal. You can reach him at 823-3819 or awebb@abqjournal.com.