Nanoblog: Is nanotech reflection of a post-industrial economy?

The Mohawk Valley, like much of the rest of the Northeast, has seen its manufacturing base erode for decades. What's been lost are thousands of well-paying jobs that provided the foundation for the Utica area's middle class.

Now, as SUNYIT begins its partnership with the University at Albany College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering on nanotechnology research, our region's economy might be evolving to its post-industrial form. The partnership is supposed to create 475 jobs and eventually attract private semiconductor chip firms to Marcy.

The future, according to an article in The New York Times on Dresden, Germany, might well be in research, not production, of things such as nanotechnology and wireless technology. Such jobs can be lucrative, and the research involved can be in high demand.

“Silicon Valley isn’t a factory anymore,” one source in the piece says. “It’s a think-tank.”

What do you think? Can our economy thrive on research without manufacturing? Please post your thoughts.