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Nanodistricts

A nanodistrict is a regional concentration of research institutions and firms where nanotechnologies are developed. Although nanotechnology applications are deployed widely across the world, a smaller number of nanodistrict locations are appearing where nanotechnology research, development and initial commercialization are clustered. Such agglomerations benefit from pools of scientific and technical capabilities, tacit knowledge exchange, and complementary services that also cluster in these areas.

The concept of nanodistricts to describe emerging regional clusters of nanotechnology development was introduced in the mid-2000s by a group of European scholars (including V. Mangematin), sponsored by the European Union 6th Framework PRIME Network of Excellence. In the United States, a 2005 paper by L. Zucker and M. Darby explored regional concentrations of nanotechnology publishing and patenting activity. Philip Shapira and Jan Youtie also use publication and patenting data to analyze emerging nanodistricts in the United States and Europe. They identify several types of leading nanodistricts, including technological leaders, which cluster large-scale nanotechnology research and commercialization (San Francisco-San Jose, Boston, Washington, D.C.-Baltimore, Chicago and New York in the United States, and Paris, London, Frankfurt, Berlin, and the Rhine-Ruhr in Europe).

These locations combine leading-edge capabilities across multiple fields of nanotechnology, while others specialize in particular aspects of nanotechnology discovery and commercialization. University-oriented (e.g., Cambridge, UK), government research (e.g., Oak Ridge, United States), midsize diversified (e.g., Cleveland, United States, or Munich, Germany), and other focused clusters (e.g., bionano in San Diego) are among the other classes of emerging nanodistricts. At a global level, B. Kahne and colleagues identify more than 200 nanotechnology clusters concentrating 80 percent worldwide nanotechnology publications and 97 percent of worldwide patents. More than 80 of these clusters are in Europe, 50 each in North America and Asia, and less than 20 elsewhere. The leading locations include Tokyo, Kyoto-Osaka, the San Francisco Bay Area, and Boston, which combine strong research publication and patent performance, while Beijing, Shanghai, and Moscow have high levels of research publication output. Other top nanodistricts locations include Seoul, Paris, Tsukuba, and Singapore.

New Nanodistrict Opportunities

An ongoing issue is whether nanodistricts are developing out of already-existing high-technology clusters or whether there are opportunities for new nanodistricts to emerge. U.S. studies of nanodistricts have found that nanotechnology tends to cluster in established high-technology locations on the east and west coasts. However, Shapira and Youtie also find new nodes of nanotechnology research activity in the U.S. south and midwest. Kahane finds new nanodistrict nodes in China, South Korea, and Singapore. Government laboratories and universities often play central roles in the emergence of new nanodistricts, as in the development of a nanotechnology complex in Albany, New York, or in the emergence of a nanotechnology cluster in Grenoble, France.

Large incumbent firms as well as new small firm start-ups are active in growing new nanodistricts. Public and private initiatives to foster nanotechnology clusters have been implemented in many countries, including in Singapore, Finland, the United Kingdom, and at the state and local level in the United States.

Nanodistricts are typically demarcated at the subnational geographic level and may or may not reflect official jurisdictional boundaries. As well as using defined metropolitan or regional boundaries, statistical analysis of nanodistricts may draw on more flexible methods of gravity models and cluster analyses. Some emerging nanodistricts cross international borders, as in the Strasbourg (France)-Karlsruhe (Germany) region, while all dynamic nanodistricts combine internal linkages with extensive external, global, and nonproximate networks. The emerging global distribution of nanodistricts has major societal implications for the nanotechnology domain in terms of where future opportunities, as well as future risks, will be concentrated. Benchmarking where and how new regional nanodistricts are developing—and where they are not—provides vital input into the effectiveness of policies to foster nanotechnology research and development capabilities and nanotechnology commercialization and enterprise development. Workforce impacts can also be assessed. Additionally, knowing which locations are leading in the development of particular nanotechnologies can also help in mapping and managing potential risk factors. More broadly, to the extent that the characteristics of a region influence how nanotechnology develops, understanding the structure, key actors, and relationships of leading nanodistricts is significant in the anticipatory governance of nanotechnology.

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