Beating the United States in the Race for Nanotechnology

While politicians in the United States are busy bickering about stem cell ethics and whether creationism should be taught in public schools, other countries are pumping so much money into biotech and nanotechnology that researchers can practically light their Bunsen burners with $1,000 bills.

On monday at the 3rd International Conference on Bioengineering and Nanotechnology at the Biopolis in Singapore, Foreign Minister George Yeo gave a ten minute speech (watch it below) about the importance of investing in nanotechnology.

When the United States began the National Nanotechnology Initiative, it became clear to a number of small countries including Singapore,
Taiwan, and Israel that it was time to invest heavily in similar frontier areas of science. With a level of decisiveness and determination comparable to the efforts of the United States after the launch of Sputnik, Singapore quickly became a global niche player in nanotechnology.

It's fascinating to hear a high ranking government official who is so incredibly technology savvy and focused on economic development through investment in science. It makes the current climate in the U.S.
look really bad, but on the other hand the other countries followed our lead. Since then, they have sort of outdone us at our own game.

Here are some highlights from the speech:

Since the launch of the National Nanotechnology Initiative by the US in the year 2000, at least 35 countries around the world have initiated national programs in nanotechnology. It has been estimated that, from 1997 to 2003, government organizations worldwide have increased their R&D investments in the field six-fold. In Singapore, we have identified it from quite early as an exciting new area for our own economic development.

I remember having a long conversation with President Shimon Peres in Israel a few years ago on the importance of nanotechnology. In case you don't know, he has become an absolute convert, and in many ways a missionary in nanotechnology. Seeing in some of the new advances in scientific development hopes for transcending some of the age old problems in the middle east. He has always been an idealist and god knows in a place like the middle east you do need people who are idealistic.

Just yesterday, I met a Taiwanese visitor and he gave me a coffee mug. I was wondering, why did he give me a coffee mug? I looked at the fine print and it said, "made of nano material". If I were to pour Coca Cola into it, all of the gas would quickly fizzle off... Thats Taiwan, they are very quick sensing opportunity. Move! Commercialization!

For Singapore, a city-state which lacks space and has no natural resources, the biomedical sector suits us well. We are small, very small, but we are quite well-run. Having a cosmopolitan outlook, Singaporeans welcome foreigners into our midst... Our culture enables people of diverse backgrounds to come and work together on the basis of equality, using English as the common language. Since our Free Trade Agreement with the US was signed a few years ago, our protection of intellectual property has become the best in all of Asia. That has proved to be a great advantage. In six years, the value of the biomedical sector more than tripled from $6 billion Singapore Dollars in 2000 to $23 billion last year.

Singapore thrives only to the extent that it is a crucible for interesting ideas and a habitat for interesting people. We cannot create such a mix by ourselves. We have to be like an Italian renaissance city-state... welcoming talented individuals from near and far, and facilitating their creative development.

I find it quite funny that Minister Yeo is a magnet for nanotechnology gifts. During his speech, he described a coffee mug that causes the carbon dioxide in soda to fizzle out quickly. After his speech, he was given a plaque with a fuel cell embedded in it. Considering how things are going, I suspect that he will receive a lot more of them in the coming years.

To learn more about the events taking place at the 3rd International Conference on
Bioengineering and Nanotechnology at the Biopolis in Singapore read on.