Harris & Harris Group Inc.

PRESS RELEASE

HARRIS & HARRIS GROUP, INC.	APRIL 16, 2002
ONE ROCKEFELLER PLAZA
NEW YORK, NEW YORK 10020
NASDAQ/NMS SYMBOL: TINY
CONTACT: MEL P. MELSHEIMER
TEL. NO. (212) 332-3614

HARRIS & HARRIS GROUP INVESTS IN NANOOPTO

Harris & Harris Group, Inc. announced today that it has invested $625,000 in privately held NanoOpto Corp. (www.nanoopto.com). NanoOpto, a New Jersey-based spinout of Princeton University, is applying propriety nano-optics and nano-manufacturing technology to design and make components for optical networking.

This investment in NanoOpto reflects Harris & Harris Group's recent decision to focus its new business activities exclusively on small tech, including nanotechnology, microsystems and microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) technology. In 1994, Harris & Harris Group invested in its first small tech company, Nanophase Technologies Corporation, a spinoff from Argonne National Laboratory, which completed an initial public offering in 1997. Harris & Harris Group sold its interest in Nanophase in 2001 and invested part of the proceeds of the sale in August, 2001, in privately held Nantero, Inc., a Harvard University spinoff developing advanced semiconductors using nanotechnology. In February 2002, Harris & Harris Group invested in NanoPharma Corp., a Massachusetts General Hospital spinoff founded to develop advanced drug delivery systems. On March 13, 2002, Harris & Harris Group noted that it had also invested in NEO Photonics Corporation, a privately held company that develops patented technology that enables the manufacture of unique nanoscale optical compositions for the telecommunications industry.

Harris & Harris Group is a publicly traded venture capital company organized as a Business Development Company. Harris & Harris Group has 8,864,231 common shares issued and outstanding.

Detailed information about Harris & Harris Group and its holdings can also be found on its website at www.hhgp.com.

This press release may contain statements of a forward-looking nature relating to future events. Statements contained in this press release that are forward looking statements are intended to be made pursuant to the Safe Harbor Provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements are subject to the inherent uncertainties in predicting future results and conditions. These statements reflect the Company's current beliefs, and a number of important factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed in this press release. Please see the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission for a more detailed discussion of the risks and uncertainties associated with the Company's business, including but not limited to the risks and uncertainties associated with venture capital investing and other significant factors that could affect the Company's actual results. Except as otherwise required by Federal securities laws, Harris & Harris Group, Inc. undertakes no obligation to update or revise these forward looking statements to reflect new events or uncertainties.