josh@cs.rutgers.edu (08/09/90)
Japan Ahead on Nanotechnology by K. Eric Drexler This spring I made an eight-day trip to Japan, to give nine lectures and to see how far along Japan is on the path to nanotechnology. The trip confirmed that researchers in Japan are well-positioned to pull ahead of those in other countries, and probably have done so already in nanotechnology-relevant areas. Their capabilities in specific enabling science and technology are world-class, but more important, the science and technology community there is farther along in realizing the importance of nanotechnology and starting to work toward it explicitly. Japan's greater emphasis on interdisciplinary work, its orientation toward technology rather than pure science, and its longer planning horizons are combining to move it faster on the nanotechnology path. MITI The depth and intensity of Japanese interest in nanotechnology started to become clear to me when I found that one of my talks had grown from a simple lecture into a six-speaker minisymposium covering a wide variety of nanotechnology-related topics. Instead of one sponsor it had attracted three: the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI), the Exploratory Research in Advanced Technology program (ERATO), and the Tsukuba Research Consortium (Tsukuba is called Japan's "Science City.") It was the sponsors' turn to be surprised when over double the expected number of attendees showed up. Natural molecular machines, such as the flagellar motor, were discussed, along with some coverage of metrology (measurement) and micromachines, but the emphasis of the meeting was on artificial molecular machines. For the first time I found other researchers who had started thinking about such machines and how they might work--this had never happened before, either in the U.S. or Europe. There seemed to be broad agreement that the engineering of molecular machinery and systems of molecular devices is a natural and important goal for the future: indeed, one to be actively pursued today. The co-organizer of the symposium, Jun Miyake of MITI, spoke in terms of using "tweezers" to orient and position protein molecules to guide the assembly of complex systems. He expressed great enthusiasm for the term which I suggested for describing this general area--molecular systems engineering--and was able to name a number of research groups in Japan heading in this direction. ERATO One of the cosponsors, ERATO, is a Research Development Corporation of Japan (JRDC) program designed to support unusual research efforts. It is funded by both government and industry: companies contribute in order to share in the research results. From a U.S. perspective, ERATO organizes its research in an unusual way: each project is fully funded up front for about five years at $2-3 million per year, in which time it is supposed to work toward an ambitious goal under the direction of a senior researcher from academia or other research organizations, including industry. A typical project has 20 researchers with an average age in their early 30s, usually on loan from companies for two years each, after which they're replaced with others from the same company. In this way the companies aim to get an input of people who are exposed not only to the research results, but also to the research atmosphere. This encourages considerable initiative by young researchers, to an extent which is unusual in Japan. Note that while work similar to some ERATO projects is going on in the U.S., the fact that the ERATO work is funded and monitored together means that the projects are more likely to fit into a coherent program for molecular systems engineering. And since each project is named after the project leader, the leader has an intensely personal reason for making the best effort possible. The level of ambition at ERATO is seen by comparing two STM projects. The Yoshida Nanomechanism Project ends this year; its focus was on measurement, with the understanding that this is important to the future field of "nano-engineering." In contrast the Aono Atomcraft Project, ending in 1994, aims to use STMs to move and bond atoms into place, in order to make unique materials. They plan to use STM probes to activate surfaces and supply molecules to donate atoms to surfaces, with an additional goal of the manipulation of biomolecules. This sounds like a step toward the "hybrid protoassembler" proposed by myself and John Foster (Nature, 15 Feb 90). Keep an eye on Masakazu Aono, the head of this project, for future work of interest. ERATO is also pursuing the construction of molecular machines without STMs. The Kunitake Molecular Architecture Project focuses on self-assembly and 3D molecular architectures. The Hotani Molecular Dynamic Assembly Project also takes advantage of self-assembly, using the flagellar motor as inspiration, with the goal of producing intelligent materials. While the project ends in 1991, its description includes some longer-term goals meant to be facilitated: the construction of a "dynamic molecular machine system" which uses both self-assembly and self-repair. Hirokazu Hotani is a researcher to watch--he is on the path to a "molecular protoassembler." I had the opportunity to talk with Robert M. Lewis, an American researcher who used to work for Shell but left in order to spend some time with ERATO. He says that Shell and many other U.S. companies are cutting back on long term and basic research, requiring that it be justified in terms of immediate production of products. He reports a much greater greater degree of freedom in his research efforts at ERATO. Nobuhisa Akabane, President of JRDC, is working to internationalize the ERATO program. Non-Japanese research organizations can cooperate with JRDC by jointly sponsoring a research project, sharing the cost and results. Individual researchers can participate through the STA Fellowship Program, which brings 130 researchers to Japanese host institutes for stays up to two years. Researchers can also swap information with JRDC through the Research Information Program. PERI Work on designing and building molecular machines is also found in the form of protein engineering. I visited Japan's Protein Engineering Research Institute, which had just announced the successful design and construction of the largest engineered protein to date, called the TIM barrel, containing about 230 amino acids. The design took three months of time (only one researcher-month of full time effort); synthesis required two and one-half months and was accomplished via genetic engineering. What most impressed me is that the design worked on the first try. PERI has a number of advantages not seen in other efforts. The institute has roughly 50 or 60 researchers and another 15 technicians and has been in operation for two years after two years of planning. It is divided along functional lines into five divisions: characterization, design, synthesis, purification and functional evaluation, and computer database and hardware systems. While American scientists doing this work get help from each other, they are not nearly so organized and cooperative at it. PERI is not a static establishment but a project with a deadline date: 6 years in the future. This will enable it to completely revise its plans and staff, if that's considered beneficial. One of their Research Directors modestly deprecated PERI's capabilities but was unable to name another organization anywhere with comparable capabilities in protein engineering. Tokyo Tech During a visit to Tokyo Institute of Technology--Japan's MIT--I found major changes going on that will make this school better able to move toward nanotechnology. In the past Tokyo Tech has had a Faculty of Science and a Faculty of Engineering. It is in the process of adding a new Faculty of Bioscience and Biotechnology, to consist of four departments: a Department of Bioscience, a Department of Bioengineering, a Department of Biomolecular Engineering and a Department of (possible translation glitch here) Biostructure. It was stressed to me that the establishment of a new Faculty in a university in Japan is today a very rare event. What U.S. university has a department explicitly devoted to biomolecular engineering? MIT hasn't. Computation Technology watchers traditionally give the software edge to the U.S., and this is probably an accurate assessment. I'm not sure whether PERI wrote its own software or not, but it's clear that they have the software they need to do the job. Analysts shouldn't count on a software lead ensuring a nanotechnology lead for the U.S. The formerly-clear U.S. lead in supercomputer hardware is decreasing as well. Recently Hitachi announced that it has surpassed Cray on a standard speed test for a single processor supercomputer. Interestingly, this hardware triumph resulted from a software improvement. The top-down path Working with molecular machines, scanning probe microscopes, and molecular modeling are all part of the "bottom-up" approach to nanotechnology. The "top-down" approach of gradually making smaller machines is not as popular; the micromachine community in the U.S. has paid little attention to nanotechnology. In contrast, micromachinists from Japan showed a good turnout at the Foresight Institute's first nanotechnology conference. I spoke on the topic at their Second Micro Machines Symposium, and the symposium's sponsor, the Micromachine Society, financed my trip to Japan. Special thanks go to Naomasa Nakajima for his extensive work on setting up my lectures. Interdisciplinary approach Cooperative work from what Americans tend to call 'separate disciplines' is done more enthusiastically in Japan. Tokyo Tech's new faculty has been mentioned; Kyoto University's Department of Molecular Engineering reflects this as well. The venerable Institute for Physical and Chemical Research (RIKEN) has broad-based interdisciplinary strength. Hiroyuki Sasabe, a senior researcher at RIKEN, reports that it has expertise in STM technology (Aono of the Aono Atomcraft Project is based at RIKEN), in organic synthesis, and in protein engineering. Sasabe appears quite interested in hybrid protoassemblers. I asked him for a guess on how long it might take to develop hybrid protoassemblers in the laboratory: he estimated 10 to 15 years. To cap it all off, the Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology is building a Nanotechnology Center. I saw it going up: a large concrete building destined for very big, very small things. While the Center will house efforts broader than those leading to nanotechnology as I use the term, relevant and exciting work can be expected. Other countries So Japan is ahead; is anyone else? Surprisingly, the answer may be yes. Consider areas of work with some relation to nanotechnology. In Italy there is a consortium focusing on biochips including several major companies, one of which is Fiat; it is already three years old. Over twenty companies are working together in a new Italian effort on bioelectronics. The U.K. started a molecular electronics project last year which, according to Sasabe, is bigger than what's happening in the U.S. Sasabe also cited a molecular engineering-oriented effort at Max Planck Institute in Germany; he knows of no equivalent projects in the U.S. Time to get moving To get a real feel for progress in Japan, one needs to visit, talk to the researchers, and see their reactions to ideas in nanotechnology. They appear to be equal to or ahead of the U.S. on most of the relevant technologies, and way ahead on commitment and organization. Contrary to the inaccurate stereotype, I found plenty of creative vision in Japan. The ideal way to develop nanotechnology is in an open, international program among the key democracies. Japan's Human Frontiers Research Program can serve as a model; JRDC's International Joint Research Program could serve as an initial framework. But to be welcome as an equal participant, the U.S. has to bring equal skills and resources to the table. Creative chaos isn't enough. It's time for both the public and private sectors to get organized. (K. Eric Drexler is a Visiting Scholar at Stanford University and President of the Foresight Institute. For further information on JRDC and ERATO, write to JRDC, 5-2, Nagata-cho 2-chome, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 100, Japan; fax 03-581-1486.)