Our firm recently launched its Legal Innovation Hub^SM for NextGen Manufacturers, a major firm-wide initiative to provide access to customized service for companies operating in this area. Nanotechnology is a major contributor to the next-generation manufacturing revolution. The bottom-up approach of assembling products molecule by molecule has fueled fundamentally new ways of manufacturing such as 3-D printing and biomimetic techniques (see last week’s post on Angela Belcher’s use of bio-engineered viruses that produce components for the electronics industry) that are not only cleaner and greener, but also may yield entirely new materials and products that can’t be produced by traditional manufacturing. To maximize commercial success for next-generation manufacturing, a diverse array of services may be needed, whether it is capitalizing on cleantech tax credits or devising the right IP strategy. The Legal Innovation Hub^SM offers a gateway to next-generation manufacturing to identify which legal services may be relevant in this rapidly evolving business environment.