Nanofilm’s Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Scott Rickert has discussed about six nanotechnology topics to be looked at in the fiscal year 2012 and their impact on the US economy in his nanotechnology column in Industry Week.
Dr. Scott Rickert is CEO of Nanofilm, a leader in nanofilm technology and self-assembling thin films.
The title of the article is ‘Nanotechnology: Six to Watch in '12.’ According to nanotechnology expert Rickert, partnership, commercialization and globalization, his first three intertwined topics in the article, will be the major concerns in the fiscal year 2012.
Rickert raised several questions in the article that discusses the opportunities available for innovators in the US, the need for additional government funding and the impact of globalization on the technology dominance of the country and much more.
Rickert has expressed concern on the support of the US government for the commercialization of nanotechnology. The Obama administration budget for the fiscal year 2012 with an allocation of $2.1 billion for the development of nanotechnology is still languishing in the Congress and the same fate is likely to continue in the fiscal year 2013, he said.
In the fourth and fifth topics of his column, Rickert has addressed the shifting of attitudes toward the safety impact and environmental health of nanotechnology. According to him, one of the welcome trends is the federal regulators’ rational approach. The other one is nanotechnology’s potential to develop the oil and natural gas industry more eco-friendly, he cited. The final topic in his column explores the impact of nano-terrorism. According to him, nano-terrorism is still active.