Tiny Technology Big Business For Oklahoma

If good things come in small packages Oklahoma's in for a pleasant surprise. News On 6 anchor Scott Thompson reports the growth of a technology of tiny proportions holds a big promise of economic

Tuesday, August 28th 2007, 9:50 pm

By: News On 6

If good things come in small packages Oklahoma's in for a pleasant surprise. News On 6 anchor Scott Thompson reports the growth of a technology of tiny proportions holds a big promise of economic gain over the next hundred years.

At Broken Arrow's Access Optics the future looks really, really, tiny. And that's really, really, big.

â€œYou know people have an idea that Oklahoma is a backwater place, and who in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma could ever make a high technology product, and we've surprised more than one,â€ said Robert Hogrefe of Access Optics.

Access Optics makes precision microscopic surgical optics, the tools surgeons use to probe the body. They hadn't been standing up to the intense heat and pressure of hospital sterilization until they found a metal in parts so small it's visible only to the most powerful atomic microscopes. That metal is used to bind the tiny glass lenses to the metal of the instrument. Now, Access is known to make the finest such products in the world.

â€œOur intent is to be the leading edge of the technology, and very decidedly nanotechnology gives us that overwhelming step to the leading edge,â€ said Hogrefe.

Nanotechnology is the process of using material the size of atoms to make things lighter, stronger, faster, smaller or more durable.

â€œEverything manmade will be impacted by nanotechnology in this century,â€ said Jim Mason of the State Chamber. â€œWe want Oklahoma companies to be the first companies to find ways to use nanotechnology to improve whatever it is they make.â€

Jim Mason preaches the gospel of nanotechnology across the state. He says Oklahoma is well positioned to become the nation's leader in nanotechnology. Forty companies across the state are using it now to make everything from sunscreen and car wax to tennis rackets, bandages and facial scrub.

â€œWe are the first state to create a state incentive for companies to help them make that transition into nanotechnology,â€ Mason said.

JT Griffin embraced nanotechnology for his line of outdoor clothing just two years ago. Now the sale of those clothes account for 40% of the sales for his Broken Arrow company. And he's testing applications now to expand into the medical field with anti-microbial bedding and surgical scrubs.

â€œWith the health care market growing as it is we see that as an enormous opportunity for us in the future,â€ JT Griffin of
ARC Outdoors said.

When tiny nano particles are heated down and mixed with polyester it becomes thread, which in turn can be made into odor-repellant cloth, thanks to the silver nano particles that destroy bacteria. Socks sold by Griffin's company are being used by American troops in Iraq, who may go weeks in the field before they find a washing machine. JT says clothing that needs little or no laundering could have a tremendous impact on the environment.

â€œIf you think about how many times you wash your clothes in a year, if you're able to do that half as much what does that save in household energy? What does that save in detergent going into the ground waste water?â€ Griffin said. â€œThe impact is going to be enormous.â€

It will also have an enormous impact on the state's economy, if Oklahoma takes some big steps with tiny technology over the next 100 years.

Another example of nanotechnology can be found at the University of Tulsa. A scientist has developed the world's smallest rechargeable battery, 240 of them would fit on the width of a human hair, two billion of them on a nickel. Now it's just a matter of matching that with a company that could use it in a product.

Watch the video: Tiny Technology Pulls In Big Money For Oklahoma