INSCX™exchange © 2012. All Rights Reserved.

Safeguarding ownership. This is the whole purpose of the Exchange differentiation between single producer [Principal] and multiple producer grades of nanomaterials.

What matters in a materials business is margin: The margin of profit a producer retains from producing to supply and the margin a user generates on use of the material.

Not a commodity. A commodity is a good or resource for which there is demand. There cannot be industrial demand for any material beyond the novel without economies of scale.

It must be assumed NM producers hope to profit from selling what they produce. What is produced must make a commercial case for uptake based on a proven cost benefit.

The meaning of Commodity

Distinction between Commodity and Commoditization

At the time of writing there exists a popular misconception suggesting nanomaterials are not to be regarded as commodities. While many nanomaterials remain single-producer grades, thus by definition are non-commoditized in contrast to say an industrial metal, nanomaterials, raw, functionalised, single or multiple producer are in a commercial context commodities in their own unique right. A commodity is a reference to something for which there is demand. Indeed any substance, resource, material or capacity used by industry and society remain commodities of one sort or other. Some are single produced, others made available from several sources to a set specification or grade. National currencies unique to an individual state are a commodity for example as are grades of TiO2 unique to a single producer. Crude oil in its many variants differs only in the fact several producers make it available. Much of the reluctance within nanoscience to regard nanomaterials as commodities stems from an assumption the term automatically equates to mean a non-premium material mass produced by multiple suppliers. Both assumptions display commercial immaturity acting to hinder as opposed to compliment prospect for industrial scale uptake. Commoditization occurs as a good or service loses differentiation across its supply base, often by diffusions of the intellectual capital needed to acquire or produce it efficiently. This generality does not wholly apply to nanomaterials, but crucially the securing of output efficiency matters. This holds the key to industrial scale uptake beyond novel usage. Whether these NM commodities are single or multiple producer NM grades can easily be accommodated.

Considerations

How to generate demand.

What price works? What market?

Capital levels required for upscale.

Speculation or certainty?

Staying independent.

Safeguarding margin and IP rights.

Proving potential

Making claim to power the next industrial revolution without incorporating the system used as a catalyst to deliver into being the first variant restricts most of nanoscience to armchair futurism. Potential across whole resource sectors of the global economy rests beyond NM producers as many fail to examine use of a system long proven to put in place the means to tap and exploit demand in the first place. That system is a commodity exchange where the obstacles to test demand and exploit opportunity to meet it without loss of ownership can be overcome. It is margin and certainty of supply and quality not unit price or semantics that matters for producers and end user convertors in industrial scale usage of materials.

What system will finance NM producers without imposing loss of ownership or excessive leverage on its producer base? Investment based on hope of potential requiring equity dilution or a system using Exchange forward contracts to Price - Sell - Finance - Prove Quality - Deliver?

Preparing for the advent of Nanotechnology in medicine. Are our health care systems ready?

At time of writing, nanomedicine is fairly primitive, compared to advancements made in imaging and drug therapy, although it must be stated that major advances are being made. Most treatments are still in their research stage, and as such are currently not used in general healthcare. One reason for this is the cost of treatment: Nms are difficult to manufacture, and difficult to put to use. This renders nanomedicine unrealistic for organisations such as the National Health Service (and to a large extent private healthcare companies), and so such treatment is not widespread. However, recent developments may lead to a reduction in costs of finished nanomaterials. The first nanomaterial commodity exchange, the “Integrated Nano-Science & Commodity Exchange” (INSCX) was recently set up to provide easier access to nanomaterials. This development is indicative of a trend towards more common usage, and will likely make it easier for a full-scale global industry to develop around the production of finished nanotechnology, thus lowering general costs of treatment. According to their press release, with regard to nanomaterials, “large volumes will be available to producers, and the nanomaterials purchased will be of assured quality and will be more competitively priced.” The exchange will result in “access to large amounts of inexpensive raw materials to facilitate research, development and mass production.” How far the exchange will go to realising this is to be seen, although such a step shows that propagation of raw materials is moving in the right direction.

Source: [MEDLINK 2010 Research paper based on Pathology lectures]

INSCX™ exchange was launched to guide NM producers to assess and secure conclusion to the following.