This morning (July 13, 2011), Cientifica released its 2011 Report on Global Nanotechnology Funding and Impact (Global Funding of Nanotechnologies and Its Impact). Here’s text from the news release (this news release may not be available in perpetuity),

With US government funding of nanotechnology receding slightly in 2011, Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) estimates indicate that for the first time, China will spend more than the US to fund nanotechnology.

“In the last 11 years, governments around the world have invested more than US$67.5 billion in nanotechnology funding,” said Tim Harper, CEO of UK-based consulting company Cientifica. “When corporate research and various other forms of private funding are taken into account, nearly a quarter of a trillion dollars will have been invested in nanotechnology by 2015.”

Corporate research and private funding were thought to have surpassed government funding figures as far back as 2004. But this year, according to Cientifica’s estimates, in PPP terms China will spend US$2.25 billion in nanotechnology research while the US will spend US$2.18 billion. In real dollar terms, adjusted for currency exchange rates, China is only spending about US$1.3 billion to the US’s $2.18 billion.

This appears to be a temporary hiccup in US dominance in public funding of nanotechnology with the US again taking the lead next year even in PPP terms, spending $2.46 billion with China allotting $2.2 billion.

“Cientifica’s index of countries’ ability to take advantage of emerging technologies indicates the US, Germany, Taiwan and Japan have the combination of academic excellence, technology-hungry companies, skilled workforces and the availability of early stage capital to ensure effective technology transfer,” said Harper.

When combined with levels of nanotechnology funding, the US is still the place to be, although China and Russia are increasingly attractive. The UK and India struggle at the bottom of the league.

For more information on nanotechnology funding or Cientifica’s Emerging Technology Exploitation Index visit www.cientifica.eu.

Note to editors: Purchasing Power Parity (PPP), the theory of long-term equilibrium exchange rates based on relative price levels of two countries, takes into account the fact that labour, materials and other costs may be significantly lower in one country than in another but in the absence of transaction costs and official barriers to trade, identical goods will be identically priced in different markets when the prices are expressed in terms of one currency.

I have taken a look at the report, which you can find here, to better understand this Purchasing Power Parity concept and found these two illustrative graphs (pp. 4-5 in the report),

The graphs don’t tell the whole story as spending money on research doesn’t necessarily mean that a country will be able to capitalize on their investment (from the report),

In order to obtain a more accurate picture
of which economies are best placed to translate research funding into an economic benefit, we used data
from the World Economic Forum’s annual Global Competitiveness Report.  (p. 6)

Key findings from the Cientifica report (found on this webpage),

• With US government funding of nanotechnology receding slightly in 2011, Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) estimates indicate that for the first time, China will spend more than the US to fund nanotechnology.
• In the last 11 years, governments around the world have invested  more than US$67.5 billion in nanotechnology funding. When corporate research and various other forms of private funding are taken into account, nearly a quarter of a trillion dollars will have been invested in nanotechnology by 2015.
• Corporate research and private funding were thought to have surpassed government funding figures as far back as 2004. But this year, according to Cientifica’s estimates, in PPP terms China will spend US$2.25 billion in nanotechnology research while the US will spend US$2.18 billion. In real dollar terms, adjusted for currency exchange rates, China is only spending about US$1.3 billion to the US’s $2.18 billion.
• This appears to be a temporary hiccup in US dominance in public funding of nanotechnology with the US again taking the lead next year even in PPP terms, spending $2.46 billion with China allotting $2.2 billion.
• Cientifica’s index of countries’ ability to take advantage of emerging technologies indicates the US, Germany, Taiwan and Japan have the combination of academic excellence, technology-hungry companies, skilled workforces and the availability of early stage capital to ensure effective technology transfer.
• When combined with levels of nanotechnology funding, the US is still the place to be, although China and Russia are increasingly attractive. The UK and UK and India struggle at the bottom of the league.

One final note, Canada didn’t make any league in this report.

ETA July 13, 2011: Dietram Scheufele at the nanopublic blog has posted briefly about the report by highlighting information about the countries (Japan, US, and Germany) most likely to ‘translate nano funding into economic impacts‘.