Nanotech may determine future Dow Index companies

Filed in archive Investing on May 31, 2006

Jack Uldrich, author of Investing in Nanotechnology: Think Small, Win Big, has written an article at The Motley Fool entitled Big Business Gets Small.

In the article, Uldrich cites fellow author Stephen Waite's prediction in Quantum Investing that as many as 27 out of the 30 companies comprising today's Dow Index may be gone by 2025.
Uldrich finds that prediction, "quite plausible", and goes on to ask:

"What, then, is a long-term investor to do?"

"Part of the answer, I believe, can be found in the emerging science of nanotechnology."

"This past week, I had the opportunity to attend the Fifth Annual NanoBusiness Alliance Conference out in New York City, and I was impressed with how some of the Fortune 100 companies viewed nanotechnology as a critical component of their overall growth strategy."

"For these companies, nanotech is not simply a long-term research-and-development project that might lead to some promising breakthroughs in five to 10 years, but rather a practical field of science that's being applied to improve existing products today."

Uldrich provides a good, brief summary of the first three talks at the conference, and he concludes that the companies that dominate the Dow in 2025 will "almost certainly understand how nanotechnology can and must be applied to create new applications and new products."