Nanotechnology Innovations and Commercialization – Opportunities, Challenges & Reasons for Delay

Innovations in nanotechnology are making a revolution in manufacturing and production, creating new materials and products through novel processes for commercial applications. New products based on nanotechnology with novel characteristics are continued to grow and benefit the society. Being general purpose technology, nanotechnology is expected to support all fields of the society, but some fields like medicine, energy, environmental remediation, robotics, manufacturing, commerce, and space exploration are expected to undergo explosive developments. In this paper, we made a detailed analysis of advantages, benefits, constraints, and disadvantages of progress in nanotechnology for the society and discussed the reason for the failure of estimated timeline for realizing various generations of progress and proposed a modified timeframe for anticipated nanotechnology innovations. Based on the business perspective, we have developed a nanotechnology products/services commercialization model and discussed the opportunities for nanotechnology commercialization. The paper also contains a detailed analysis of common commercialization challenges faced by nanotechnology firms including time lag, valley of death, lack of infrastructure, lack of standard for evaluation, bureaucratic delays, dearth of funding, and lack of trained professionals, brand image, and public support. Finally, we have mentioned how the various corporate business strategies can be used in the successful business of nanotechnology products and services.