Houston needs to think small about future technology
Houston Chronicle, May 13th 2001
By William Dylan Powell

OK, it's test time--sort of like a breakfast-time Rorschach test for Outlook readers. Here we go: What's the first thing that comes to mind when someone mentions Houston?

Time's up. Your answers may have been energy, medicine or seemingly random acts of highway closure. But how about something very, very small ? While Houston may not exactly be synonymous with all things tiny, we may want to start giving more mind share to the world of the miniature. As technology advances, Houston may owe a great deal to the study of small substances.

Nanotechnology is the study of creating functional structures on a molecular scale (the prefix "nano" means one billionth, or 10 to the ninth power numerically). Its theories and practices give scientists the means to construct useful entities using the smallest known particle of unaltered matter.

Before your eyes glaze over in a terminology-induced science class flashback, you should hear some of the possibilities that this technology could afford residents of the Bayou City and their respective commercial enterprises. The possibilities give the works of science fiction author Ray Bradbury a run for their money, and include producing computers the size of viruses or factories that could fit neatly on your desk. Cancer-destroying robots could roam a patient's innards like mounted police at a spring break celebration. Eventually, all diseases and mutations could be eliminated. And all manufacturing processes would become waste-free, both in terms of the environment and from a business process standpoint.

Sound like science fiction? Maybe, but truth is rapidly catching up with fiction. A team of university researchers recently figured out how to make a functional switch out of a single organic molecule. Discoveries such as these have spawned several branch fields of study including nanobiotics, NEMS (nanoelectromechanical systems) and nanomedicine.

This technology would surely change the world. But it would especially affect Houston. Applications for nanotechnology are a great fit for Houston 's economic landscape. The chemical industry already has begun conducting research in small -sizing certain chemical compounds. And the energy industry, still our darling, has great interest in the power management possibilities of nanotech. This could be Houston 's next great vehicle for economic development.

Nay-sayers have expressed caution regarding progress in this field on two separate fronts. First on how distant potential commercial offerings remain, and secondly on the potential dangers of combining genetic engineering, nanotechnology and robotics (for fear of creating self-assembling intelligent machines as often portrayed in science-fiction movies). But too much technological progress is happening at once for the possibilities not to whet the appetites of the entire scientific and business communities.

Already, developmental overtures have been heard from Houston 's little sister to the north. The Dallas-Fort Worth region and its growing base of semiconductor, light assembly and defense industries are keeping a close eye on developments in small science. In March, a private-sector company donated $2.5 million to the University of Texas at Dallas for nanotech research. And a handful of Dallas-area groups have been quietly conducting research of their own. This money augments the federal government's nearly half-billion dollar allotment of 2001 research funding for nanotechnology. Houston has its own projects, but they receive far less publicity.

Houston 's public nanoscience efforts have been centered mostly on Rice University's grand Turks of academia. Pushing the envelope of academic excellence as usual, Rice's heavyweight research barons continue to generate and distribute knowledge on the many potential applications of this exciting technology. But as successful as they are, they receive far less publicity and support than other less commercially significant disciplines. On May 29, leaders from the energy, medical and technology sectors will converge at the Houston Technology Forum to discuss various technology trends that will affect Houston 's future. Will the keynote speakers (chief executives from Compaq, the Texas Medical Center and Enron) address the issue of what Houston is doing to prepare for advances in nanotechnology and its potential economic impact on the region?

I certainly hope so. Energy, medicine and technology are the terra firma of Houston 's economy. Each of these industry sectors could reap profound benefits by bringing nanotechnology's concepts to light.

Sure, the fruits of this nascent science are still a long way off. But it's going to become remarkably important sooner than we think. So while Houstonians are well known for our love of largeness, it's time to think small. Let's take a careful evaluation of what this technology could mean to our city and its economic development.

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