"Nanotechnology is the first wave of technology in close to 100 years that the United States didnít come off the gate alone with. We have had strong presence from Japan, Russia, from the European Union, even Australia. For the United States to remain the economic leader, weíll have to have the public-sector investment, as well as the private sector."

I assume that it was Mark Modzelewski who said this and I take issue with it as a historical inaccuracy.

If you actually look at the history of the development of television, rocketry, nuclear research, computers, plastics and so on over the last hundred years, you find that there was often independant and intense research and development taking place in many countries outside the United States. In the technologies that really mattered, the United States was rarely alone. With the emergence of nanotech this has not changed.