Radical Innovation and Policy Making : Nanotechnology Public R&D Funding in the US and the EU

This paper explores one particular vector of entrepreneurship in nanotechnologies: public R&D funding. Drawing mainly from official archival databases and focused interviews I do a comparative study of the EU and US public R&D funding systems. My emphasis is on institutional funding coming from the US National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI) and the EU European Frameworks (FP). I show that funding reflects distinct strategies which result from structural differences in the institutions managing public R&D in Europe and in the US. I conclude by discussing the impact of these differences on the development of new business activities in nanotechnologies