Nanotech Report 2004: Lux Research, an advisory firm focused on nanotechnology, today announced the release of keyfindings from The Nanotech Report 2004, a more than 600-page reference study.The findings are part of the report's 24-page introduction that can beaccessed at no charge from: http://www.luxresearchinc.com/tnr2004

Partial list of The Nanotech Report 2004's key findings:

* Governments, corporations and venture capitalists will spend more than $8.6 billion worldwide on nanotechnology research and development in 2004.

* National and local governments across the world will invest more than $4.6 billion in nanotechnology R&D in 2004. We expect 2004 will be the last year that governments outspend corporations on nanotechnology as activity shifts from basic research to applications development.

* The U.S. government will spend nearly twice as much on nanotechnology this year as it did on the Human Genome Project (HGP) in its peak year. In 2005, the National Nanotechnology Initiative will surpass the HGP on a cumulative basis. The U.S. has now appropriated more than $3.16 billion to fund nanotechnology R&D since 2000 and is proposing $982 million in new funding for FY 2005.

* Established corporations will spend more than $3.8 billion globally on nanotechnology R&D in 2004.

* There is no bubble in nanotech venture capital funding, despite widespread reports to the contrary. VC firms invested just $79 million into nanotechnology companies in the first half of 2004, down from annual totals of $325 million in 2003 and $386 million in 2002. Based upon current fundraising activity, we expect VC investment to total approximately $200 million in 2004.

* Approximately 1,500 total companies worldwide have announced nanotechnology R&D plans. Eighty percent of them -- approximately 1,200 -- are start-ups, 670 of which are in the U.S.

* Media coverage of nanotechnology -- both positive and negative -- is increasingly exponentially. Mentions of the word "nanotechnology" in the popular press rose from 190 in 1995 to 7,316 in 2003; we predict more than 12,000 mentions in 2004.