A battery that holds a cellphone charge forever and a test that detects dangerous infections found at hospitals in just 30 minutes – neither one of those is on the market yet, but both could be because of work being done right here in St. Joseph County.
Both could change the world, and one could change the local job market. They are part of an emerging field that computer companies like IBM are investing big bucks in, and local leaders hope will put a charge into the job market.
So what is Nanotechnology?
"Nanotechnology is basically working at very small dimensions, down at the atomic and molecular levels", says Bob Dunn, the business manager at Notre Dame's MIND center for nanotechnology research.
Notre Dame research now being done at tiny levels could change your life. Researchers are looking for an alternative to the transistor. As computers and cellphones continue to become smaller they generate lots of heat, and cooling them is a problem. If a smart phone uses less energy it can hold a charge better. In other words, your battery would not die as often. Dunn says the clock is ticking, in eight to ten years our need for the new and best technology on smartphones and computers cannot be met with a transistor.
"You are going to see a difference in the performance. We are not going to be able to see the innovation and the new things coming out at the fast pace that they have been coming out", says Dunn.
Notre Dame researchers are not the only people working on this, it is a competition. If Notre Dame wins it would be a big deal, but not necessarily a big deal locally in terms of jobs. So what is the fuss with nanotechnology? Why are state and local politicians touting it as a key part of our area's economic future?
The answer can be found across the street from Notre Dame at the state, city and university-sponsored technology park named Innovation Park. Future companies are starting work there, hoping to grow. The hope is one day they will move into their own building as they hire more people.
Right now there are 22 potential companies; they are called clients at Innovation Park. Three of them are nanotechnology related. One of the nanotechnology clients is named F Cubed. CEO Less Ivy gave up a big paying corporate job because he has a product he hopes can change the world. Ivy's staff uses an analyzer to test water for things like E-Coli. There are already tests like that, but Ivy says he can get results back in 30 minutes, instead of days.
Did you know it takes days right now to test the water in Lake Michigan? Your kids could be swimming in e-coli contaminated water and not know it, because the results are not back. They could also be forced out of water that is really safe, because, again, the test results are not back yet. So what does this test have to do with nanotechnology?
Ivy uses a silicon chip to get the test result, but he says the key is getting that chip down to a small enough size to be a money maker.
"The materials used in this chip are silicon, but also gold which is sort of expensive. The smaller we make it the more cost effective it is", says Ivy.
Ivy is working with the EPA and is ready to starting selling these quick water tests to customers. But he hopes that is only a start for F CUBED. The company is beginning the lengthy process of trying to get Food and Drug Administration approval of their product for health care applications. One example is a hospital using it to detect dangerous MRSA infections in only a half an hour. It could be a life saver, and it could be a huge money maker. Just think of how many hospitals there are around the world to be potential customers.
Right now F Cubed has 11 employees, Ivy says they hope to hire two more very soon. Local companies in Goshen and Mishawaka are doing manufacturing work for F Cubed. But just how big could this be, how many jobs? To throw out a number would be a complete guess.
It could fail.
"We call them 'oh hell' investments", says Joel Kocen, who is on F Cubed's board of directors. Kocen put his money in because he loves the product, but also knows there are no guarantees.
"After it is all done, if it did not work out you say 'oh hell'. So you certainly would not put your last nickel in something like this."
But Less Ivy says if his company does take off it is not moving out of town. Ivy says he has to stay near Notre Dame, he needs the expertise of their nanotechnology researchers. And if Ivy sells a lot of his product he will need the local work force.
"There is going to be an opportunity for people in the future for the people that live in this community that can do things with their hands. They can assemble, they can test products, they can prepare products for shipping."
Out of the 22 "clients" now in Innovation Park it seems likely some will fail. But if some of them succeed they can be a part of the future puzzle that makes up a better local job market.
