Russia is Running Behind in Nanotechnology

Russia's nanotechnology development is lagging badly behind more advanced economies--including China.

"I think what Russia is doing is trying to catch up" with the European Union, Japan and the United States, said Mark Morrison, scientific manager at Britain's Institute of Nanotechnology.

Russia also has an eye on up-and-coming China and India, which are making major inroads in nanotechnology, and wants to ensure it is developing its own technology instead of buying it from other countries, Morrison said.

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China is becoming a world leader in nanotechnology metrics.

China is now one of the world leaders in terms of its number of newly registered nanotechnology firms, nanotechnology publications and nanotech related patents. Over the past three years, the number of companies in the field of nanotechnology in China has grown and reached over 800. This growth rate is very rapid and it has yet to show signs of slowing down. The sales to date have been largely domestic, but with the increasing global interest on the development of nanotechnology and with the advantage of modern communication we can for sure speculate that this could be a very profitable investment in the near future.

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Russia's vodka-sotted mafiacracy has been slow to awaken to the growing threat of military-nanotechnology--particularly along its southern borders. China has long eyed the mineral riches of Eastern Siberia. Illegal Chinese immigration into Siberia is leading to an ethnic Chinese majority in several Siberian cities. Think of it as the "reconquista" of parts of Siberia that were once Chinese--plus interest.

The vision of a wealthy and expanding China with a military stronger than Russia's, and with advanced military technologies that Russia cannot match, must disturb Putin's sleep at times. China is not a soft democracy like the US or Europe. China's leadership practices a ruthless calculus of power. The deaths of millions of Chinese or Russians would not weigh on their conscience.

Russia has oil wealth to invest in nanotechnology research. But foreign investment will maintain its distance--thanks to Putin's idiotic seizures of private business assets and their subsequent nationalisation, and sale to Putin's cronies.

Putin has a lot of things to be afraid of, that are not discussed here. Losing the nanotechnology race to Asian neighbors is just one more.