Thereís a brief article on the Wired Magazine website ("Nanotech's Pitch for Megabucks", by Declan McCullagh, 15 December 2001) that provides additional coverage of the panel-discussion-as-lobbying-session presented at the U.S. Capitol by the NanoBusiness Alliance on 13 December 2001. According to the article, one person whom the Nanobusiness Alliance invited to speak at Thursday's panel discussion was Meyya Meyyappan, director of the Nanotechnology Research Center at NASA Ames. "If (corporations) know it's going to take 15 years, why are they going to invest?" Meyyappan said. "The role has traditionally come through government funding. That's a role, knowledge creation."
The article also quotes Foresight President Chris Peterson: "The fraction of federal funding going to the universities that result in products in the marketplace is not high. Even though the fraction is not high, it may be an excellent investment in the sense that the payoff is high." . . . Looking toward the future, Peterson said, "Eventually nanotechnology will bring up unique regulatory challenges." But she added: "It's not necessary today. There is no need to be concerned either way, if you're afraid of the regulation or if you want it."
