Oak Ridge Big Player in ‘Miniature Science’
Published Apr 08, 2005
DNA and carbon nanofibers
As nanotechnology unleashes discoveries expected to fuel the next wave of industrial innovation, economic development partners in Knoxville and Oak Ridge are prepared to seize the opportunity in what has been dubbed Innovation Valley.
Driving the push for nanotechnology job growth is the region’s emerging reputation as a global center for nanotechnology, based on a world-class set of research tools soon to be available at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory. With investment at ORNL expected to exceed $2.5 billion and the Tennessee government investing millions in nanotech facilities and talent, a new partnership is developing opportunities to transfer nanotechnology research and discovery to commercial applications.
“We have the ability to grow a whole series of companies that will revolutionize the economy through nanotechnology, and that’s what we want to do here,” says Tom Rogers, president and CEO of Technology 2020 in Oak Ridge.
To take economic advantage of nanotechnology, Tech 2020 joined others in forming the East Tennessee Nano Initiative, unveiled in May 2005. Other founding partners are the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, University of Tennessee, Y-12 National Security Complex, and Innovation Valley’s regional economic development organizations.
By mid-2005, the valley had at least five nanotech companies focusing on such developments as new nano- scale materials and improved drug delivery. Existing industries here are looking into ways nanoscience could improve food safety and develop tougher surface treatments for vehicles.
So what is nanotechnology and why is it commanding attention? The National Nanotechnology Initiative describes it as the ability to manipulate individual atoms and molecules, allowing the building of machines on the scale of human cells or the creation of materials and structures with novel properties.
A nanometer is a billionth of a meter, or the size of 10 hydrogen molecules.
Among examples from the National Science Foundation, nanotechnology will impact the medical field with improved drugs and disease detection sensors; allow development of stronger materials; advance information technologies with tinier computer chips; and reap environmental benefits. It has the potential to impact many everyday products and to transform industry as well.
Though projections vary, researchers say the nanotech market could range from $1 trillion to $2.6 trillion by 2014.
“Everyone is predicting that our economy will look dramatically different because of the ability to do science at the nano-scale and what that means for every material and product that we currently use,” says Alex Fischer, director of technology transfer and economic development for UT-Battelle, the partnership that manages ORNL.
“We are sitting on the front end of this industrial revolution,” Fischer says. “And we know we have one of the world’s greatest collections of tools that will drive that revolution. This is one of those rare opportunities that allow this region to be at the ground floor of the transformation of our economy.”
ORNL’s tools include the $1.4 billion Spallation Neutron Source, opening in 2006; the Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences; the Joint Institute for Neutron Sciences with the University of Tennessee; the Center for Computational Sciences to house the nation’s next supercomputer; and an advanced microscopy lab – together valued at more than $2.5 billion. Researchers from public and private sectors will have access to these tools.
“There isn’t any place anywhere in the world that has a stronger collection of scientific capabilities to do science at the nanoscale,” Fischer says.
Story by Kay Brookshire
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