UK Nanofactory -- NOT!!

Today's edition of the Yorkshire (UK) Post includes a story titled "Extremely Small Is Beautiful," which says:

Earlier, this year, Yorkshire Forward announced a £5m funding package for Yorkshire academics involved in nanotechnology. Around £2.12m of this cash will be spent on creating a Nanofactory, based at the University of Leeds in partnership with the universities of Bradford and Sheffield. [emphasis added]

Say, that's exciting! They're spending £2.12m (US $3.7 million) to create a nanofactory?

Well, actually, no. They've just appropriated the name for a new nanomanufacturing center, doing basic nanoscale technology. The things they're working on -- biomedical products, optical coatings, and nanofibres for various applications -- are useful, but to use the label 'nanofactory' is extremely misleading and needlessly confusing.

Mike Treder

Tags: nanotechnology nanotech nano science technology ethics weblog blog

Comments

[Brian Wang]

I wonder the next time something in Molecular manufacturing is named, that trademarking should be taken to protect the usage of the term.