Russia appointed a new head of its state sponsored nanotechnology company. As a parallel to something in the West, I’ll be watching to see if this develops into something resembling the NASA of the 60’s and 70’s, an agency the government filled with dreamers, pioneers, risk-takers, scientists that worked as harder after they received their Phd. as they did to earn it in the first place. Not the NASA of today, an organization symbolizing government ineptness, waste, and living on past glories. What’s important to see here is the impact it will have far beyond what it directly does. Will it spur a whole education and research industry on the university level that will attract public and private investment from Russia and all over the world. Will it spur innovation, new technologies, and new products that private corporations can use to advance the industry even further? Will it form a symbiotic relationship with its suppliers in creating an industry that can translate new, formerly theoretical products into viable commercial products? This and many other questions will be answered in the next few years, promising to present investment opportunities as profitable as the technology boom of the 90’s.