WHAT IS NANOTECHNOLOGY?
WHY IS THE NANOSCALE INTERESTING TO CORPORATIONS?
WHAT'S ALREADY HAPPENING? We are in the very early days of the commercial applications of nanotechnology. Most commercial nanotechnology involves nanoparticles -- molecules with novel properties due to altering chemical reactions at the nanoscale. These particles are currently in a wide range of products, from paints to cosmetics to tennis rackets to clothing to glass to computers. An example of a new particle is titanium dioxide. At the conventional macro scale a particle of titanium dioxide is white in colour, good at reflecting UV light, and widely used as the active ingredient of sunblock. However, if manipulated to form particles only 20 nm wide the properties of titanium dioxide change. It keeps its UV light scattering properties, but turns see through and provides the basis for making see through sunblock. Other nano particles include new forms of carbon. Carbon naturally occurs as either diamond or graphite, however, nanoscale manipulations have produced new forms of carbon such as ‘Bucky Balls’ and ‘Nano Tubes’. These new carbons have radically changed electrical and strength properties with a huge number of potential commercial applications.
WHERE NEXT? Nano encapsulation: food, pharmaceutical and chemical companies are all working on nano-sized capsules containing flavourings, drugs, pesticides, etc. designed to break open and release their contents only under certain conditions.
Nano devices: shrinking the size of electronic components and devices to the nanoscale. One example is nano sensors. US defense agencies plus corporations (including Intel) are developing ever smaller wireless nano-sensors.
Nano-biotech: Incorporating non-living nano-materials into living organisms. Creating new synthetic materials incorporating biological materials. Harnessing nature's ability to ‘self assemble’ to build complex structures from the level of atoms up. Treating DNA as a molecule and atomically engineering life atom by atom.
BIOTECH BROKE THE SPECIES BARRIER
NANOTECH BREAKS THE LIFE/NON-LIFE BARRIER Stemming from the idea that everything is the same at the nano-scale lots of interest has been generated by the concept of technological convergence -- the idea that nanotechnology will enable the eventual merger of nanotechnology, biotechnology, information technology and cognitive neuroscience. Known by several names including NBIC (Nano Bio Info Cogno) and BANG (Bits Atoms Neurons Genes) convergence reaches into a brave new world where human enhancement, machine/mind interfaces become achievable goals. Although it sounds like the stuff of a bad sci-fi novel, nano-enabled convergence is likely to become science fact as it is attracting interest from powerful supporters including major corporations and US defence agencies.
WHICH COMPANIES ARE INVOLVED IN NANOTECH? Big Companies Virtually all of the Fortune Global 500 companies are investing in nanotechnology research. Unlike with biotech, big companies have been involved with nanotech from the start. They are both developing nanotechnologies for their own products and are using technologies developed by each other. Major corporate nano developers/users include:
Computers/Electronics: IBM, NEC, Fujitsu, Hitachi, Philips, Hewlett Packard, Samsung, Motorola, Mitsubishi, General Electric, Microsoft
Food: Kraft/Altria, Unilever, Nestle, Heinz, Sara Lee
Drugs/Healthcare: Glaxo, Smith and Nephew, Merck,
Oil: BP, Exxon, Chevron/Texaco, Shell, Haliburton,
Clothing: Burlington, Nike, Gap,
Defence/Aerospace: Sandia/Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Qinetiq,
Cosmetics: L’Oreal,
Chemicals: Dupont, Degussa, Dow, Henkel,
Agricuture: Syngenta, Monsanto
Cars/Automotive: BMW, Renault, General Motors, Ford, Caterpillar, Small Companies Nanotech has also spawned hundreds of small nano specialist companies. These are often spinout companies commercialising the results of university research. Small nano-companies include: Nanosys, Nanophase, C60, Altair, Nanomix, Veeco, Flamel, Nanogate, Arryx, Nanoproducts. UK based companies include Oxonica, Thomas Swan & Co and Skyepharma.
WHAT PRODUCTS ARE ALREADY ON THE MARKET? Pilkington: ‘Activ’ self cleaning glass
See through sunblocks often use nanoparticles -- including those sold by The Body Shop and Green People.
Smith&Nephew;: ‘Anticoat’ wound dressings
Oxonica/Cerulean International: ‘Environex’ fuel additive (in the process of being rolled out to the entire Stagecoach UK bus fleet)
L’Oreal: ‘Plenitude Revitalift’ anti-wrinkle cream
Kodak: ‘ColorLast’ inkjet printer paper
Stain resistant fabric used on some clothing lines by Levis, Regatta, Marks and Spencer
Wrinkle resistant fabric used on some clothing lines by, GAP, Lee, Levis and Kathmandu And what’s coming? NEClaptops powered by nano tube fuel cell batteries
Flat screen displays using carbon nanotubes
WHAT ARE THE PROBLEMS? TOXICITY Nanoparticle products, including cosmetics and wound dressings, are already on the market; food and environmental remediation applications are not far off. However, profit motivated corporations have rushed into commercialising the first generation of nanotech based products (nanoparticles) before adequate safety testing procedures -- let alone regulations -- exist to deal with them. There is a growing body of scientific opinion which claims that a unique set of problems are associated with the toxicity of manufactured nanoparticles. The concern is two fold: Firstly, that by being reduced to the nanoscale materials become more reactive and therefore potentially more toxic. Secondly, that our bodies have not evolved to recognise nanoparticles -- until recently few particles of this size existed in the world. As a result our body's protective filters, ranging from the skin to the lining of the lungs to the blood/brain barrier, do not recognise and filter out nanoparticles.
CORPORATE CONTROL IS INCREASED Colonisation of the Nano scale In 1989 scientists working for IBM announced to the world their ability to manipulate matter atom by atom by using a scanning tunneling microscope (IBM's own patented technology) to rearrange 35 xenon atoms to spell out the letters I-B-M on the surface of a nickel crystal. New enclosures/new monopolies Just as biotechnology’s ability to manipulate genes went hand in hand with the patenting of life, so too nanotechnology’s ability to manipulate molecules has led to the patenting of matter. The last few years has seen a gold rush to claim patents at the nanoscale. Over 800 nano-related patents were granted in 2003, and the numbers are increasing year on year. Two corporations, NEC and IBM, hold the basic patents on carbon nanotubes, one of the current cornerstones of nanotechnology, and a material poised to become a major traded commodity with the potential to replace major conventional raw materials. Changing the size and shape of corporations Just as the biotech revolution resulted in the lifesciences company (in which chemical, pharmaceutical, seed and materials interests were merged together) nanotech is likely to result in companies merging or buying each other due common interest in the nano scale. For example, Bridgestone Corp, is finding that nano applications developed for tyres are useful in making flat screens and is about to go into production. Nano disruption? As nanomaterials become widely used there is the potential for major traded commodities, from iron and copper to rubber and cotton, to be replaced by nano equivalents. For example, the use of carbon nanotubes in the electronics industry looks set to hit the copper extraction industry. The harshest effects of these changes in commodity flows will be felt, not by large corporations dealing in copper (who will relocate or diversify), but by local communities who depend on copper mining.
FURTHER READING 'The Big Down' and 'The Little Big Down' by the ETC Group available online at www.etcgroup.org May 2003 edition of 'The Ecologist': 'Nanotechnology Special Report' 'Down On The Farm' by the ETC Group available online at www.etcgroup.org
"There are three, although I have a feeling that under some future unified theory they will turn out to be just one. The first is, of course, information technology... the second is biotechnology... and the third is nanotechnology"
Robert Shapiro, then CEO of Monsanto, when asked what he believed were the world's most promising future technologies
Nanotechnology is the manipulation of matter at a size so small that it is measured in Nanometres,(one billionth of a metre) the scale of atoms and molecules. Its difficult to grasp quite how small the nanoscale is. To give some reference points: one nanometre (nm) is one millionth of a millimetre, a human hair is 80,000nm, a red blood cell is 5,000nm in diametre, a DNA molecule is 2.5nm wide and it takes 10 hydrogen atoms arranged side by side to measure 1nm wide.
Everything is the same
When viewed at the nanoscale the whole world starts to look the same, everything both living and non-living on this planet is made up of atoms and molecules, and at the nanoscale that’s all you see.
Things behave differently
Below about 50nm the rules that govern the behaviour of the elements of our known world start to give way to the rules of quantum mechanics, and everything changes. To take the example of gold, we are all familiar with gold at the macro scale, for instance, a normal gold ring is a familiar shiny orangey/yellow colour. The same is true of a particle of gold 100nm wide, but, a particle of gold 30nm across is bright red, slightly bigger than that it is purple and going smaller still its brownish in colour. It’s not just colour that changes at the nanoscale other properties including strength, reactivity, conductivity, electronic properties also change as size and shape change.
WHY IS THE NANOSCALE INTERESTING TO CORPORATIONS?
"Nanotechnology has given us the tools… to play with the ultimate toy box of nature - atoms and molecules. Everything is made from it... The possibilities to create new things appear limitless"
Horst Stormer, 1998 Physics Nobel prize winner
Product opportunities open up across all sectors of the economy: smaller and faster computers; drugs that permeate the body more effectively and can target specific cells; catalysts (for example, in oil refining) can become more reactive; sensors can monitor with much greater precision; materials can be stronger, lighter and 'smarter'.
WHAT'S ALREADY HAPPENING? We are in the very early days of the commercial applications of nanotechnology. Most commercial nanotechnology involves nanoparticles -- molecules with novel properties due to altering chemical reactions at the nanoscale. These particles are currently in a wide range of products, from paints to cosmetics to tennis rackets to clothing to glass to computers. An example of a new particle is titanium dioxide. At the conventional macro scale a particle of titanium dioxide is white in colour, good at reflecting UV light, and widely used as the active ingredient of sunblock. However, if manipulated to form particles only 20 nm wide the properties of titanium dioxide change. It keeps its UV light scattering properties, but turns see through and provides the basis for making see through sunblock. Other nano particles include new forms of carbon. Carbon naturally occurs as either diamond or graphite, however, nanoscale manipulations have produced new forms of carbon such as ‘Bucky Balls’ and ‘Nano Tubes’. These new carbons have radically changed electrical and strength properties with a huge number of potential commercial applications.
WHERE NEXT? Nano encapsulation: food, pharmaceutical and chemical companies are all working on nano-sized capsules containing flavourings, drugs, pesticides, etc. designed to break open and release their contents only under certain conditions.
Nano devices: shrinking the size of electronic components and devices to the nanoscale. One example is nano sensors. US defense agencies plus corporations (including Intel) are developing ever smaller wireless nano-sensors.
Nano-biotech: Incorporating non-living nano-materials into living organisms. Creating new synthetic materials incorporating biological materials. Harnessing nature's ability to ‘self assemble’ to build complex structures from the level of atoms up. Treating DNA as a molecule and atomically engineering life atom by atom.
BIOTECH BROKE THE SPECIES BARRIER
NANOTECH BREAKS THE LIFE/NON-LIFE BARRIER Stemming from the idea that everything is the same at the nano-scale lots of interest has been generated by the concept of technological convergence -- the idea that nanotechnology will enable the eventual merger of nanotechnology, biotechnology, information technology and cognitive neuroscience. Known by several names including NBIC (Nano Bio Info Cogno) and BANG (Bits Atoms Neurons Genes) convergence reaches into a brave new world where human enhancement, machine/mind interfaces become achievable goals. Although it sounds like the stuff of a bad sci-fi novel, nano-enabled convergence is likely to become science fact as it is attracting interest from powerful supporters including major corporations and US defence agencies.
WHICH COMPANIES ARE INVOLVED IN NANOTECH? Big Companies Virtually all of the Fortune Global 500 companies are investing in nanotechnology research. Unlike with biotech, big companies have been involved with nanotech from the start. They are both developing nanotechnologies for their own products and are using technologies developed by each other. Major corporate nano developers/users include:
Computers/Electronics: IBM, NEC, Fujitsu, Hitachi, Philips, Hewlett Packard, Samsung, Motorola, Mitsubishi, General Electric, Microsoft
Food: Kraft/Altria, Unilever, Nestle, Heinz, Sara Lee
Drugs/Healthcare: Glaxo, Smith and Nephew, Merck,
Oil: BP, Exxon, Chevron/Texaco, Shell, Haliburton,
Clothing: Burlington, Nike, Gap,
Defence/Aerospace: Sandia/Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Qinetiq,
Cosmetics: L’Oreal,
Chemicals: Dupont, Degussa, Dow, Henkel,
Agricuture: Syngenta, Monsanto
Cars/Automotive: BMW, Renault, General Motors, Ford, Caterpillar, Small Companies Nanotech has also spawned hundreds of small nano specialist companies. These are often spinout companies commercialising the results of university research. Small nano-companies include: Nanosys, Nanophase, C60, Altair, Nanomix, Veeco, Flamel, Nanogate, Arryx, Nanoproducts. UK based companies include Oxonica, Thomas Swan & Co and Skyepharma.
WHAT PRODUCTS ARE ALREADY ON THE MARKET? Pilkington: ‘Activ’ self cleaning glass
See through sunblocks often use nanoparticles -- including those sold by The Body Shop and Green People.
Smith&Nephew;: ‘Anticoat’ wound dressings
Oxonica/Cerulean International: ‘Environex’ fuel additive (in the process of being rolled out to the entire Stagecoach UK bus fleet)
L’Oreal: ‘Plenitude Revitalift’ anti-wrinkle cream
Kodak: ‘ColorLast’ inkjet printer paper
Stain resistant fabric used on some clothing lines by Levis, Regatta, Marks and Spencer
Wrinkle resistant fabric used on some clothing lines by, GAP, Lee, Levis and Kathmandu And what’s coming? NEClaptops powered by nano tube fuel cell batteries
Flat screen displays using carbon nanotubes
WHAT ARE THE PROBLEMS? TOXICITY Nanoparticle products, including cosmetics and wound dressings, are already on the market; food and environmental remediation applications are not far off. However, profit motivated corporations have rushed into commercialising the first generation of nanotech based products (nanoparticles) before adequate safety testing procedures -- let alone regulations -- exist to deal with them. There is a growing body of scientific opinion which claims that a unique set of problems are associated with the toxicity of manufactured nanoparticles. The concern is two fold: Firstly, that by being reduced to the nanoscale materials become more reactive and therefore potentially more toxic. Secondly, that our bodies have not evolved to recognise nanoparticles -- until recently few particles of this size existed in the world. As a result our body's protective filters, ranging from the skin to the lining of the lungs to the blood/brain barrier, do not recognise and filter out nanoparticles.
"There is evidence that UFPs [Ultra Fine Particles or nano particles] can gain entry to the body by a number of routes, including inhalation, ingestion and across the skin. There is considerable evidence that UFPs are toxic and therefore potentially hazardous. The basis of this toxicity is not fully established but a prime candidate for consideration is the increased reactivity associated with very small size."
Dr Vyvyan Howard, Toxicologist
Despite nano particle based products already being on the market there are very few published studies on the toxicology of nanoparticles. Those studies that exist have shown problems, for example fish exposed to carbon nanoparticles quickly developed brain damage. Even the pro-technology Royal Society has stressed the need for regulation of nanoparticles to be put in place.
We are only dealing with the first generation of relatively simple nanotechnology based products and there are already safety issues. As commercial nanotechnology increases we can expect further safety problems to arise. For example what will the biosafety implications of Nano-biotechnology be?
CORPORATE CONTROL IS INCREASED Colonisation of the Nano scale In 1989 scientists working for IBM announced to the world their ability to manipulate matter atom by atom by using a scanning tunneling microscope (IBM's own patented technology) to rearrange 35 xenon atoms to spell out the letters I-B-M on the surface of a nickel crystal. New enclosures/new monopolies Just as biotechnology’s ability to manipulate genes went hand in hand with the patenting of life, so too nanotechnology’s ability to manipulate molecules has led to the patenting of matter. The last few years has seen a gold rush to claim patents at the nanoscale. Over 800 nano-related patents were granted in 2003, and the numbers are increasing year on year. Two corporations, NEC and IBM, hold the basic patents on carbon nanotubes, one of the current cornerstones of nanotechnology, and a material poised to become a major traded commodity with the potential to replace major conventional raw materials. Changing the size and shape of corporations Just as the biotech revolution resulted in the lifesciences company (in which chemical, pharmaceutical, seed and materials interests were merged together) nanotech is likely to result in companies merging or buying each other due common interest in the nano scale. For example, Bridgestone Corp, is finding that nano applications developed for tyres are useful in making flat screens and is about to go into production. Nano disruption? As nanomaterials become widely used there is the potential for major traded commodities, from iron and copper to rubber and cotton, to be replaced by nano equivalents. For example, the use of carbon nanotubes in the electronics industry looks set to hit the copper extraction industry. The harshest effects of these changes in commodity flows will be felt, not by large corporations dealing in copper (who will relocate or diversify), but by local communities who depend on copper mining.
FURTHER READING 'The Big Down' and 'The Little Big Down' by the ETC Group available online at www.etcgroup.org May 2003 edition of 'The Ecologist': 'Nanotechnology Special Report' 'Down On The Farm' by the ETC Group available online at www.etcgroup.org