China aims to leapfrog the United States in technological development
with substantial investment in nanotechnology, but whether those
efforts will actually pay off is still unclear. That was the message
from University of California at Santa Barbara researchers presenting
their findings on the state of Chinese nanotechnology at the AAAS
annual meeting.

The chart above shows the relative positions of various countries R&D budget in 2005

Richard Applebaum
and Rachel Parker from the Center for Nanotechnology in Society at 
UCSB conducted about sixty interviews with Chinese officials to piece
together a picture of the current state of Chinese nanotechnology.

Nanotechnology research is one of four Chinese "science Megaprojects"
that have the central purpose of catching the country up to US research
by 2020. Still, for all the big talk, the actual government investment
is not overwhelming. The researchers estimated that the Chinese
government only invested $400 million from 2002 to 2007, although that
investment is expected to rise considerably.

Right now, most nanotech research is being pushed by the central and
regional governments with little private capital contributing to the
national output.

It also leads to strange applications of nanotechnology in high-profile
venues. Parker said that the Olympic village parking lots being
constructed in Beijing will have a nanopolymer coating that will absorb
exhaust. It was just an off-hand mention, but I am officially intrigued
by the idea of coating our parking lots with pollution absorbing
material.

Via Wired Magazine