Spin of a Nanotech Spin‐Off

Abstract Innovation in advanced technology often springs from ideas birthed in universities yet the attitudes of professors and their students towards entrepreneurship and their stance on the collision between fundamental research in the pursuit of knowledge and applied research directed to the creation of intellectual property, inventions, companies, jobs, products, and wealth, is not that well appreciated either inside or outside our universities. In this article I will explore this interesting issue and try to gain some insight into the challenges faced by professors confronted by the challenge of transforming basic science and engineering knowledge into products in the market place, using nanotechnology as a case study. While the specific focus of this article is on nanotechnology, more generic issues are also raised that relate to transformational business development and entrepreneurship in society and universities in a larger sense.