Tired NanoPeople and

Anyone who has tried to contact a key nanotech person in the last month, or tried to get them to meet a deadline or get a callback when they promised, has been finding it difficult at best. All the conferences between late September and early November that I previously referenced, have the glitterati swamped. Attendees, exhibiters, sponsors and speakers are all making their last minute plans, and the conference promoters are in the throws of last minute marketing and the total hassles of running one of these shows.

The result will be a lot of tired, burned-out folks straight through to early January. Don't expect to see much on the nanotech front (except the usual, regular drumbeat of astounding results from the key scientific labs) until 2006. There are always press releases and deal announcements around conferences, but don't expect it to amount to much for anyone but the participants and the "ball" that was dropped in the second half of 2004 has not been picked up and won't be for months. (We at nanotechnology.com are going to do our part, but this explosion of activity in the waning months of 2005 is marking more of a double-top of promotion than a bottom.)

A little publicized conference in December will focus on MEM's and nanotechnology's role in the future of defense and the military. This is an extremely intriguing area, and one not near the information saturation point. I don't know the promoters, but the speaker list looks promising.