Efforts to commercialize nanotechnology are gaining momentum around the world. But nowhere are those efforts more intense than in the high-tech centers of Asia. In the most recent illustration of this trend, Singapore's Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology is rapidly emerging as a world leader in nano-based biosensors and diagnostic devices. Already home to more than 100 researchers, the nanotech institute, which is part of Singapore's new Biopolis biomedical research center, has applied for a dozen patents over the last year and plans to translate its most advanced research projects into commercial products in the next few years.

The institute reflects heavy nanotech investments by several governments in Asia-chiefly China, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and Singapore-that aim to produce everything from extremely sensitive diagnostics to superfast computers. In particular, Japan, South Korea, and China "will be world nanotech leaders in the next few years," says David Tomanek, a nanotech expert at Michigan State University who maintains a research group at Tokyo's Research Organization for Information Science and Technology. "In some areas, you could say they're leading now."