History
As nanoscience has advanced and discoveries in the field applied, the potential contributions of nanotechnology to future economic growth has brought increasing government attention. Today, nanotechnology is a top research priority of the Bush administration.
Attempts to coordinate federal work on the nanoscale began in November 1996, when staff members from several agencies decided to meet regularly to discuss their plans and programs in nanoscale science and technology. This group continued informally until September 1998, when it was designated as the Interagency Working Group on Nanotechnology (IWGN) under the National Science and Technology Council (NSTC).
The IWGN sponsored numerous workshops and studies to define the state of the art in nanoscale science and technology and to forecast possible future developments. Two relevant background publications were produced by the group between July and September 1999: Nanostructure Science and Technology: A Worldwide Study, a report based on the findings of an expert panel that visited nanoscale science and technology laboratories around the world; and Nanotechnology Research Directions, a workshop report with input from academic, private sector, and government participants. These documents laid the groundwork and provided the justification for seeking to raise nanoscale science and technology to the level of a national initiative.
In August 1999, IGWN completed its first draft of a plan for an initiative in nanoscale science and technology. The plan went through an approval process involving the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) and the Office of Science and Technology Policy . Subsequently, in its 2001 budget submission to Congress, the Clinton administration raised nanoscale science and technology to the level of a federal initiative, officially referring to it as the National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI).
Once the NNI had been set up, the IWGN was disbanded and the Nanoscale Science, Engineering and Technology (NSET) Subcommittee was established as a component of the National Science and Technology Council’s (NSTC) Committee on Technology (CT). The CT is composed of senior-level representatives from the federal government’s research and development departments and agencies, provides policy leadership and budget guidance for this and other multiagency technology programs.
The NSET is responsible for coordinating the federal government’s nanoscale research and development programs. The NSET membership includes representatives of departments and agencies currently involved in the NNI and OSTP officials.
The National Nanotechnology Coordination Office (NNCO) was established to serve as the secretariat for the NSET, providing day-to-day technical and administrative support. The NNCO supports the NSET in multiagency planning and the preparation of budgets and program assessment documents. It also assists the NSET with the collection and dissemination of information on industry, state, and international nanoscale science and technology research, development, and commercialization activities.
The NNCO serves as the point of contact on federal nanotechnology activities for government organizations, academia, industry, professional societies, foreign organizations, and others. The NNCO facilitates outreach through the planning, organizing and conduct of workshops, as well as through reports and development and maintenance of the NNI website (www.nano.gov).
The importance of a coordinated Federal program for nanotechnology R&D was given greater recognition in 2003 with the enactment of the 21st Century Nanotechnology Research and Development Act (Public Law 108-153).
This information is taken in part from "Small Wonders, Endless Frontiers, a Review of the National Nanotechnology Initiative" by the National Research Council (2002).
See also Nanoscale Science and Engineering R&D Extend Frontiers of Scientific Knowledge, Lead to Significant Technological Advances, Supplement to President’s FY 2004 Budget, Oct. 2003