National Nanotechnology Strategic Plan Providing Future Roadmap for Nanotechnology Innovations

The federal government has recently posted two reports online to share with the stakeholders in the nanoscience community. The first report, titled "Nanotechnology Research Directions for Societal Needs in 2020 " or Nano2, is the international long-term view, providing a retrospective of  the last ten years (2000-2010) and vision for the next ten years (2011-2020). It was prepared with input from leading experts from 35 countries representing the broader community of academic, industry, and government stakeholders, including the NNI.  The complete report, slides and webcast are available on the report Web site.

Using the Nano2 Report as input, the NNI prepared a draft of its 3-year Strategic Plan (2011-2013), which includes strategies for US government agencies in the context of a sustainable, long-term nanotechnology roadmap.  We encourage all members of the nanotechnology community to review the original Nano2 Report and offer further input and feedback on the draft NNI Strategic Plan, which is available through the NNI Strategy Portal.

The NNI Strategy Portal blogs: “The NNI Strategic Plan is the framework that underpins the nanotechnology work of 25 NNI member agencies. It aims to ensure that advances in nanotechnology R&D and their applications to agency missions and the broader national interest continue unabated in this still-young area of research and development. Its purpose is to facilitate achievement of the NNI vision by laying out guidance for agency leaders, program managers, and the research community regarding planning and implementation of nanotechnology R&D investments and activities.

Informed by feedback and recommendations from a broad array of stakeholders including the Presidential Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST), the NNI Strategic Plan represents the consensus of the participating agencies as to the high-level goals and priorities of the NNI and specific objectives for at least the next three years. It describes the four overarching goals of the NNI, the major Program Component Areas established in 2004, and further reiterated in the recent PCAST report to broadly track the categories of investments needed to ensure the success of the initiative (reported every year in the NNI Supplement to the President’s Budget), and the near-term objectives that will be the concrete steps taken toward collectively achieving the NNI goals and vision. Additionally, the plan describes collaborative interagency activities, including three Nanotechnology Signature Initiatives that are a new model of specifically targeted and closely coordinated interagency, cross-sector collaboration designed to accelerate innovation and commercialization in areas of national priority.”

Comments will be accepted until November 30.