Nanotech manufacturers need to roadmap

Small Times, a magazine for micro- and nano-scale manufacturers, has this recent story about how the industry needs to do more integration and standardization. There is a lot there that would only be interesting to a nanotech researcher, but this paragraph caught my eye:

Pointing to the chip making industry as “a good model to use,” MEMS industry consultant Roger Grace declared, “We need to learn from past experiences, we have to build on what we know.” The creation and implementation of industry standards, support of R&D efforts, roadmapping, and establishment of a dedicated equipment, metrology, and packaging supplier infrastructure were among the lessons that nanomanufacturers could learn from the semiconductor community, according to Grace.

As more and more industries see the success that the semi-con guys have had with their roadmaps (www.itrs.net) you will start to see the value of roadmapping appreciated in surprising new places. Right now it’s still very much about high technology planning, but the sky is the limit really, in my opinion.