Foresight Nanotech Institute Launches Nanotechnology Roadmap

June 21st, 2005

Foresight Nanotech Institute, the leading nanotechnology think tank and public interest organization, and Battelle, a leading global research and development organization, have launched a Technology Roadmap for Productive Nanosystems through an initial grant of $250,000 from The Waitt Family Foundation. The group is assembling a world-class steering committee to guide this groundbreaking project, and has garnered the support of several important industry organizations as roadmap partners.

Productive Nanosystems are molecular-scale systems that make other useful materials and devices that are nanostructured. The Technology Roadmap for Productive Nanosystems will provide a common framework for understanding the pathways for developing such systems, the challenges that must be overcome in their development and the applications that they can address. The Roadmap will also serve as a basis for formulating research and commercialization agendas for achieving these capabilities. Productive Nanosystems will drive research and applications in a host of areas, providing new atomically-precise nanoscale building blocks, devices and systems. The intended audiences for the Roadmap include governments, corporations, research institutions, investors, economic development organizations, public policy professionals, educators and the media.

“We are very pleased to have the support of The Waitt Family Foundation and Battelle as a partner on this critical pioneering nanotechnology project,” said Scott Mize, President of Foresight Nanotech Institute. “The Waitt Family Foundation and its related institutes are very forward–thinking, and Battelle is one of the best research organizations in the world. With their involvement, we will be able to identify the large gap between the basic nanostructured materials being manufactured today, and the potential of productive nanosystems. This roadmap initiative will chart the steps required to get from here to there.”

"The incredible promise of nanotechnology has continued to be twenty years away for the past twenty years,” said Ted Waitt, founder of The Waitt Family Foundation. “History has shown that goal-oriented science can achieve great breakthroughs. We need focused goals, milestones to achieve, and a strong strategic plan. By putting the best minds together to resolve differences and identify critical breakthroughs, I believe we can coordinate the vast resources being deployed globally and dramatically accelerate progress in the field. I look forward to contributing to this exciting and important roadmap effort."

“The accelerating pace of nanoscience progress makes it critical that we take a rational approach to planning the future developments in productive nanosystems,” said Dr. Carl F. Kohrt, President and Chief Executive Officer of Battelle, “With its decades of experience pioneering the beneficial use of nanotechnology for mankind, Foresight Nanotech Institute is an excellent collaborator on this roadmap project.”

The Roadmap process will involve a series of workshops and coordinating the contributions of experts from private industry, government, research institutes, and academia. The project will be launched with its first workshop in late summer 2005, with completion of the Roadmap slated for late 2006.

“We believe that multi-disciplinary teams from the national laboratories and universities working in close collaboration with scientists and business leaders from industry is a critical success factor. This collaborative initiative will enable us to create a visionary document which will shape the future of global productive nanosystem innovations,” said Alex Kawczak, Vice President, BioProducts and Nanostructured Materials, of Battelle.

The steering committee, currently being assembled includes: Ted Waitt, Chairman of Avalon Capital Group and The Waitt Family Foundation; Alex Kawczak, Vice President, Battelle; Dr. Charles M. Lieber, Professor, Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Division of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University; Dr. William A. Haseltine, President, William A. Haseltine Foundation for Medical Sciences and the Arts; Dr. Mauro Ferrari, Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Internal Medicine, The Ohio State University; Dr. Paul Alivisatos, Chancellor's Professor of Chemistry and Materials Science, University of California, Berkeley, and Director, Materials Sciences Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory; Dr. J. Fraser Stoddart, Fred Kavli Chair in NanoSystems Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles, and Director, California NanoSystems Institute; Dr. John Randall, Chief Technology Officer, Zyvex; Dr. Jim Roberto, Chief Research Officer and Deputy Laboratory Director, Oak Ridge National Laboratory; Dr. Robert Hwang, Director, Center for Functional Nanomaterials, Brookhaven National Laboratory; and Steve Jurvetson, Managing Director, Draper Fisher Jurvetson. This committee will guide the development of the Roadmap.

The project is endorsed by a select group of industry and technical organizations that will also participate in the development of the Roadmap. These include the NanoBusiness Alliance (NBA), the leading nanotechnology business association, the Nano Science and Technology Institute (NSTI), the leading organization for the development and integration of nanotechnology, SEMI, the leading global industry association for equipment, materials and service companies enabling micro- and nano-scale manufacturing, the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO), the leading biotechnology industry group, the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), the leading power industry research organization, and the Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME), the world’s leading professional society supporting manufacturing education.

“We are extremely enthusiastic about having the support of such a prestigious array of organizations in developing the Roadmap,” said Mize. “This will assure that the Roadmap will meet the needs of the constituents that these groups serve, and that it will be widely adopted when it is completed.”

Source: Foresight Nanotech Institute