We think about it in three phases. The first one is products already on the market. These are the low-hanging fruit--the cosmetics industry, some of the food industry, and so on--or what we think about as the trivial applications of nanotechnology.
For the next decade or so, we think about the introduction of new materials, new products, in existing consumer products. It would be a better cellphone, a faster cellphone, or a better computer and what not. It would be developing the technology in a different way within that scale frame of what we know.
When you go another 15 to 20 years down the road, we're looking at what we think about as the transformative aspects of nanotechnology, where we start getting into “smart” things--things that are self-regulating, self-propelling, and what not.
For example, we have at our institute a person who is looking at what he thinks about as an intelligent nanoparticle. It doesn't have self-intelligence, but nevertheless.... The idea is to have multiple functions in it. On the one hand, it will be used as a tool that will target itself to a particular part of the body. When it's there, it will be used as a signal to tell you that it's there, and when it is there and you know where it is, you can use it as a therapeutic agent. So it's building multi-functionality into a small device that can then function in that regard.
I think there's lots of excitement in the health area. I think we'll see lots in the energy sector. We also see an emerging bio-materials sector. We're starting to look at using sustainable green resources, such as trees and plants, to replace the hydrocarbon sources that we're currently using from the oil. This is a matter of trying to get materials into the production line and taking it from sustainable sources.
So there's a....
I could go on for hours, but I won't.