Industry Spotlight INNOVATION/Information Technology
Good Things
in Small Packages
Nanotechnology surges to attract industries and investments
N
anotechnology
and nanoscience are the
latest to emerge onto
the North Texas tech and aviation scenes,
and they’re driving the future in the fields
of business, life sciences and engineering.
Nanotech and nanoscience involve the
studying of, and working with, matter on
an ultra-small scale – to see, measure,
manipulate and manufacture materials at
the atomic level – and with dimensions so
small, they’re measured in nanometers.
These materials are less expensive,
higher performing and more convenient
than current technologies. So realizing their
www.ntc-dfw.org
game-changing potential, members of the
aviation and tech industries, along with
government entities and higher-education
institutions, are collaborating to make
North Texas the next hub of nanotechnology
innovation.
Along with the State of Texas, Lockheed
Martin, Hillwood, Bell Helicopter and statewide universities have joined forces to push
on the frontier of advanced and innovative
materials. Together, they created the
NanoMaterials Design & Commercialization
Center (NDCC), a non-profit organization
that serves as a tool to help support education
and training, and leverage investments to
spawn this developing industry.
Joe Maly, director of the NDCC,
recently spoke about the growth of the
nanotechnology sector and believes no
other region is better positioned to lead
these innovative efforts, especially with all
of the aviation and defense companies
scattered throughout the DFW area.
“North Texas already hosts the secondlargest aerospace/defense advanced
manufacturing industrial complex in the
world,” he said. “As a consequence of
incubating many of the defining advanced
technologies of the preceding era, North Texas
has assembled a highly skilled workforce, and
today hosts the nation’s fifth-largest
concentration of scientists and engineers.
“Further, its advanced technology
sector trails only California’s Silicon Valley,
with the resulting