Several days ago I noted that Bell Labs had successfully transitioned into a commercial firm and that Edison himself was a fan of practical real-world applications over “basic” research.
Bloomberg’s Markets magazine has an excellent cover story on the State of Nanotechnology from an investors perspective. One quote that caught my eye was from a venture partner, Conrad Burke, who became the CEO of a hi-tech firm called Innovalight:
Now, Innovalight has to figure out how to roll its nano ink onto sheets, cut the sheets into tiles and attract customers for solar panels it says will be cheaper and lighter than the ones on today’s buildings. Burke expects the first products in 2008. He says his backers won’t be satisfied with a nifty panel that consumers don’t buy, even if scientsits discover new ways to manipulate tiny materials. “If all you do is move nanotechnology forward from an academic perspective, that’s a sad outcome,” Burke says. “Nothing matters unless you build a successful outcome.”
Via Paul Kedrosky.