Nanotech decade
Ten years of investment has turned nanotechnology into a booming research and industrial landscape. Fiona Case investigates whether it has lived up to the hype
In December 2010, politicians, funding agency representatives, venture capitalists and researchers involved with nanotechnology met in Washington, DC, to celebrate ten years of US National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI) funding. The anniversary provides an occasion to reflect on achievements from a decade of nanotechnology research and development and a worldwide investment of more than $42 billion (£26 billion); and to consider the challenges for the future.