Big Bucks to Think Small: Nanotech Lab Construction Spurs $770 Million in Capital Investment

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Reported by Annette Kreuger, Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--The science of small is prompting major capital investments across the United States. College campuses across the country are clamoring for funding to build "nanotech" research laboratories, both large and small. This nascent discipline has the added attraction of being interdisciplinary by nature, incorporating a number of academic fields ranging from engineering to bioscience. Reminiscent of the dot-com era, it doesn't hurt fundraising efforts to have a hot buzzword crowning a capital project request. A recent survey drawn from Industrial Info's Pharmaceutical Tracker has uncovered 19 active capital projects with a total investment value (TIV) of $769.5 million.

Click on the image at right to view U.S. Nanotech Construction Activity Chart.

Catch phrase aside, the practical use and promise of nanotechnology or nanoscience is not to be underestimated. The word itself is a combination of nano, from the Greek nanos (or Latin nanus), meaning "dwarf," and the word "science." Simplified, a nano is one billionth of a meter, or a nanometer, which is on the scale of atomic diameters. For comparison, a human hair is about 100,000 times thicker than a nanometer. Practical applications and current fields of study include instruments that are able to "see" and "touch" at this scale, as well as nanoparticles, which consist of a variety of compounds including alumina, zinc oxide, magnesium and titanium dioxide. Nanopowders are used for everything from sunscreen that scatters ultraviolet rays to fabrics that resist stains and destroy bacteria.

A look at the 19 current projects reveals a TIV range of $3 million all the way up to $90 million, with a per project average TIV of $40.5 million. While popular within the academic world, nanotechnology is increasingly being seen as a vehicle to economic growth for a region. As discoveries make their way through the development process from the lab, the next step is taking these same products to the marketplace. With its interdisciplinary nature, the field has the potential to reach a wide range of start-up companies attracted to the intellectual capital, as well as by the state-of-the-art research centers. Many of the new facilities being planned will help foster these start-ups through a variety of methods, including incubator space and incentives.

Currently, the largest nano project being tracked is Georgia Tech's (Atlanta, Georgia) $90 million Nanotech Research Center Building. Whiting-Turner (Atlanta, Georgia) is handling construction of the 188,000-square-foot building that is scheduled to be complete later this year. This particular project was first identified in May 2004 in Industrial Info's Pharmaceutical Tracker.

On a smaller scale, NanoBiomagnetics (NBMI) (Edmond, Oklahoma) and its spin-off XetaComp Nanotechnology LLC are considering a second expansion of a nanolotion manufacturing plant in Lawton. The $4 million project will add 30,000 square feet to the site, which recently completed construction of 15,000 square feet. The company manufactures UVA/UVB derma care lotions utilizing NBMI's nanoparticle titanium dioxide technology.

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