[extropy-chat-test] NANO: Questions

[kevinfreels at hotmail.com]

After being on the list for a few months, I find that I am still playing catch-up. (ketchup:-)

Currently I am reading Damien's book "The Spike" and absorbing as much as possible by Googling. It seems that I am finding lots of speculation about what it will mean and what the benefits are, but there are a few things I am having serious trouble with.
To begin with, where is  the bulk of the assembler research being conducted? Is it primarily colleges that rely on research grants, or are there big corporations working on it?
As far as assemblers go, is there anyone working on a non-nano means of assembling at the molecular level that is faster and more efficient than an STM? It seems to me that this would be an intermediate step, maybe making a machine capable of building something simple like water in a usable quantity. 
Finally, and this is a bit off the mark, but how does money move in this sort of research? If a bunch of people in a college come up with a new technology such as the first assembler, who gets the patent? How does that technology make it into the market? Do others create it from scratch and get their own patents on "similar" devices, or do they sell the patents? 
Between now and the time that the first "Genie in a box" is available, there is still a need for money and I'm curious about how I can set myself up to gain from it.
Thanks!
Kevin Freels
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