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June 29, 2005 — Four members of the nanotechnology business community are slated to testify before Congress today. A House subcommittee scheduled the hearing to examine a recent assessment of the government’s nanotechnology program and to solicit feedback from industry on how U.S. nanotechnology activity compares to international competition.

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The hearing, scheduled by the House Committee on Science’s Subcommittee on Research, is set for 10 a.m. In particular, it will examine the findings and recommendations of the recent assessment of the National Nanotechnology Initiative by the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology.

The four witnesses are Floyd Kvamme, co-chair of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology and a partner at venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers; Jim O’Connor, vice president of technology incubation and commercialization at Motorola Inc.; Sean Murdock, executive director of the trade organization NanoBusiness Alliance; and Matthew Nordan, vice president of research at Lux Research Inc., a nanotechnology research and advisory firm.

“I’m basically (going to be) making the case that the valley of death is real,” Murdock said, referring to the period between research and commercialization when high tech companies typically struggle to bring in revenue.

He said he would push for more government funding, a greater emphasis on “translational research programs” that attempt to bridge the gap between basic science and applications, and tax credits that would encourage corporations to invest more in research and development.

Specific questions to be addressed at the hearing include:

• What is the position of U.S. research and development and U.S. businesses in nanotechnology relative to that of other countries?

• What key factors influence U.S. performance in the field, and what trends exist among those factors?

• Which fields of science and engineering present the greatest opportunities for breakthroughs in nanotechnology, and which industries are most likely to be altered by those breakthroughs in both the near-term and the longer-term?

• What are the primary barriers to commercialization of nanotechnology, and how can these barriers be overcome or removed?
• What is the federal government’s role in facilitating the commercialization of nanotechnology innovations, and how can the current federal nanotechnology program be strengthened in this area?