Arkansas Business reports that NanoMech has purchased the Canadian nano-tech firm Canano and will bring scores of high-paying high-tech jobs to the region.

(As if NWA wasn't Yankee enough already ... we kid.)

Five of Canano's top people have already made the move (perhaps the recent snow and Wal-Mart transplants made them feel at home). NanoMech CEO Jim Phillips said most of the new jobs would be in the $50,000 to $125,000 range, and that kind of change goes far in Arkansas.

From the AB story:

Phillips said nondisclosure agreements prevented him from getting too specific about Canano's clients, but he said the company's products have applications for everything from "solid rocket fuels to cosmetics and a lot of other things in between."

Much of the Canadian outfit's technology is proprietary in nature, he said.

"There's a lot that's proprietary that we'll probably choose to keep proprietary and not patent it on this particular technology, no different than Coke's syrup and things like that that are more proprietary than they are patented," Phillips said.

"However, the company prides itself on developing and pursuing patents, so we have a lot of patents and patents pending in our other areas," he said.

Nanoscience research at the University of Arkansas' Fayetteville and Little Rock campuses has played a huge role in the development of the industry in the state, and has provided qualified personnel for private sector employers such as Nanomech, Phillips said.

Great news for Arkansas. And perhaps even better news for the workers at Canano, who no longer have to say they work at a place called Canano ...

Again, we kid.