If adopted, Virginia House Bill No. 1939 would establish a "Virginia Technology, Nanotechnology, and Biotechnology Investment Fund” to provide up to $500,000 in grant money to small nanotechnology start up companies with 25 or fewer employees seeking to locate in Virginia. The bill is sponsored by Harry R. Purkey of Virginia Beach, and is currently in the appropriations process. The bill defines “nanotechnology” as “technology, research, and development at the atomic, molecular, or macromolecular levels, in the 1 – 100 nanometer range, to create and use structures, devices, and systems that have novel properties and to integrate such structures, devices, and systems into large material components, systems, and architectures.” The bill’s sister legislation – Virginia House Bill No. 2275 – would establish the “Virginia Nanotechnology Authority,” which would (among other things) administer the fund. Bill 2275 defines “nanotechnology” as “the manipulation of particles at the less-than-100-nanometer scale.”
