Today I'm reporting live from the conference, "Transforming Society through Emerging Technologies: The National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI) at Five Years." It was a packed house at Purdue University's Loeb Playhouse, where this day-long conference brought together an eclectic mix of nanotech experts from the diverse disciplines of government, journalism, academia and business.

The diversity of panelists and perspectives reminded me again of the vast breadth of applications nanotechnology has in store. Panelists discussed everything from the finer points of scanning electron microscopy to the macroeconomic impacts anticipated as a result of nanotech. A few of the highlights:

Candace Stuart, Editor-in-Chief at Small Times, spoke about the increasing polarization of pro- and anti-nanotech camps, and the growing propensity of the popular media to exaggerate any conflict between the two.

Senior advisor for nanotechnology at the National Science Foundation, Mike Rocco, described how the explosion in nanotech market applications will come with the advent of nano-systems including guided assembling and robotics and the convergence of nanotech and biotech in nano-biotech.

George Scalise, President of the Semiconductor Industry Association, pointed out that the largest investor in nanotech research and development today is the semiconductor industry. He made the bold prediction that nanotech will contribute even more to the nation's economy in the next ten years than the semiconductor industry has in the last ten--$2.5 trillion.

Josh Wolfe, Managing Partner at Lux Capital, estimated that there are currently 143 companies focused on nanotech in the US today. He observed that government funding of nanotechnology is currently about 20 times the funding coming in from private venture capital firms, an imbalance that will have to change before nanotech can really take off in the marketplace.

While on campus, I also had a look at Purdue's $58 million Birck Nanotechnology Center, which opened in October (photo Purdue University). It's a beautiful facility designed explicitly to accommodate multidisciplinary nanotechnology research on campus. One architectural feature that caught my eye was the use of windows between the public hallways and private labs, which gives the visitor an insider's view of the hands-on work going on in the labs.

Check here for audio and video of the conference.