Small World Nanotechnology will soon mean big changes in the way you do business.
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Rick Snyder, CEO of Ardesta, a holding firm in Ann Arbor,Michigan, has a mantra: "Smaller, faster, better,cheaper." He's talking about "small tech," aterm that describes nanotechnology, microtechnology andmicro-electromechanical systems (MEMS). Nanotechnology inparticular has gotten a lot of coverage as big companies likeHewlett-Packard and Intel have begun to introduce nano intocomputing.
It's hard to pinpoint exactly what small tech is because ithas so many wide-ranging applications. "I would call it moreof a revolution than an evolution," says Snyder.Nanotechnology, for example, deals with matter at an atomic andmolecular level--that is, with matter often described as being lessthan the width of a human hair in size. It's appearing ineverything from stainproof coating for fabrics to scratch-resistantcoating for eyeglasses to miniscule computer chip circuits from HPLabs.
Research funding for small tech is enormous. Ardesta is devotedto investing in and helping launch various small tech ventures withan ultimate goal of bringing actual products to market. Manybusinesses in this fledgling technological area are smallentrepreneurial start-ups and spinoffs from research institutions.Life sciences and materials manufacturing are two industries thatwill really feel the early effects of the growing small techmarket.
Eventually, though, small tech will touch just about everything.Synder calls it pervasive and transparent. Some applications areout already and operating in your business right under your nose.Microtech is built into inkjet cartridges and portable projectors.At SmallTimes.com, aclearinghouse for information on small technology, the sectiondevoted to applications is an eye-opener: A recent visit to thesite brought up articles on nanotech use in products such as tennisrackets and LCD monitors, among others.
There are a million microscopic reasons to get excited, butit's important to keep them all in perspective. Synder sees anaccelerating growth curve over the next five years as small techmakes its way into real-life markets. But you shouldn't expectcompanies to shout "nano" or "MEMS" in theirproduct advertising. The way you'll know small tech has touchedyour business is when Snyder's mantra comes into play:"Smaller, faster, better, cheaper."
