Although nanoTX '07 will be in Dallas (2-4 Oct 2007), I see several sponsors from Austin, such as Applied Materials and Texas Instruments, as well as several Austin universities and colleges. Why is it a big deal, and what's worldchanging about it? Congress is proposing $15 billion to fund renewable energy sources, and Texas is heavily involved in most forms of energy production.

Renewable-energy lobbyists told reporters “that would set off a feeding frenzy among boosters of hydro-power, nuclear, biofuels, geothermal and solar advocates,� exactly the fields being developed further at the Energy Summit during the upcoming nanoTX’07 (www.nanotx.biz). As before, those findings will be shared with congress.

CONGRESSIONAL ENERGY INITIATIVES TO BE FOCUS AT NANOTX’07 Press release from: NanoTX\'07 Published date: 01-15-2007 14:36 PM - CET - Energy & Environment

It all sounds a bit like the usual suspects in the military-industrial complex:

According to TNI President Kelly Kordzik, an Austin patent attorney with Fish & Richardson P.C., nanoTX’07 will draw the top minds in four vital and interrelated nanotech areas of commerce: Semiconductor/MEMS/NEMS, Defense/Homeland Security/Aerospace, Biomed/Health Sciences, and Energy/Chemical/Environment, plus providing an intense study of Trends/Finance/Investing by leading experts of industry. “There are a lot of people working very hard to make nanoTX'07 the nanotechnology event of the highest quality,� says Kordzik. nanoTX’07 is held during International Nanotechnology Week.

But if some of the usual oil and military apparatus can be turned towards renewable energy production, I'd call that worldchanging. Maybe some of the smaller solar, wind, etc. outfits will get investment to ramp up, or maybe even better large orders for their goods.

-jsq