National Nanotechnology Initiative
Encyclopedia
The National Nanotechnology Initiative is a United States
federal nanoscale science
, engineering
, and technology
research and development
program. Initiative participants (cited below) state that its four goals are to
The initiative was spearheaded by Mihail Roco
.
advocated nanotechnology
development. In a 21 January 2000 speech http://pr.caltech.edu/events/presidential_speech/ at the California Institute of Technology
, Clinton, "Some of our research goals may take twenty or more years to achieve, but that is precisely why there is an important role for the federal government." President George W. Bush
further increased funding for nanotechnology. In 2003 Bush signed into law the 21st Century Nanotechnology Research and Development Act (Public Law 108-153 http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=108_cong_public_laws&docid=f:publ153.108), which authorizes expenditures for five of the participating agencies totaling $3.63 billion over four years.http://www.nano.gov/html/res/Sen.AllenNational_Nanotechnology_Initiative_Conference_4.1.04.htm. This law is an authorization
, not an appropriation
, and subsequent appropriations for these five agencies have not met the goals set out in the 2003 Act. However, there are many agencies involved in the Initiative that are not covered by the Act, and requested budgets under the Initiative for all participating agencies in Fiscal Years 2006 - 2008 totaled over $1 billion each. The current NNI budget supplement for Fiscal Year 2009 provides $1.5 billion dollars to the NNI, reflecting steady growth in the nanotechnology investment. (See the Summary of the Supplement to the President's Budget for Fiscal Year 2009 http://www.nano.gov/NNI_FY09_budget_summary.pdf).
In December 2007 the National Nanotechnology Initiative released a Strategic Plan outlining updated goals and "program component areas" http://www.nano.gov/NNI_Strategic_Plan_2007.pdf," as required under the terms of the Act. This follows the Strategic Plan released in December 2004.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
federal nanoscale science
Science
Science is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe...
, engineering
Engineering
Engineering is the discipline, art, skill and profession of acquiring and applying scientific, mathematical, economic, social, and practical knowledge, in order to design and build structures, machines, devices, systems, materials and processes that safely realize improvements to the lives of...
, and technology
Technology
Technology is the making, usage, and knowledge of tools, machines, techniques, crafts, systems or methods of organization in order to solve a problem or perform a specific function. It can also refer to the collection of such tools, machinery, and procedures. The word technology comes ;...
research and development
Research and development
The phrase research and development , according to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, refers to "creative work undertaken on a systematic basis in order to increase the stock of knowledge, including knowledge of man, culture and society, and the use of this stock of...
program. Initiative participants (cited below) state that its four goals are to
- advance a world-class nanotechnology research and development (R&D) program;
- foster the transfer of new technologies into products for commercial and public benefit;
- develop and sustain educational resources, a skilled workforce, and the supporting infrastructure and tools to advance nanotechnology; and
- support responsible development of nanotechnology.
The initiative was spearheaded by Mihail Roco
Mihail Roco
Mihail Roco is the chair of the US National Science and Technology Council subcommittee on Nanoscale Science, Engineering and Technology , and is Senior Advisor for Nanotechnology at the National Science Foundation...
.
Participants
- Consumer Product Safety CommissionConsumer Product Safety CommissionThe United States Consumer Product Safety Commission is an independent agency of the United States government created in 1972 through the Consumer Product Safety Act to protect "against unreasonable risks of injuries associated with consumer products." The CPSC is an independent agency that does...
- Department of AgricultureUnited States Department of AgricultureThe United States Department of Agriculture is the United States federal executive department responsible for developing and executing U.S. federal government policy on farming, agriculture, and food...
Cooperative State Research, Extension, and Education Service - Department of AgricultureUnited States Department of AgricultureThe United States Department of Agriculture is the United States federal executive department responsible for developing and executing U.S. federal government policy on farming, agriculture, and food...
Forest ServiceUnited States Forest ServiceThe United States Forest Service is an agency of the United States Department of Agriculture that administers the nation's 155 national forests and 20 national grasslands, which encompass... - Department of Commerce Bureau of Industry and SecurityBureau of Industry and SecurityThe Bureau of Industry and Security is an agency of the United States Department of Commerce which deals with issues involving national security and high technology. A principal goal for the bureau is helping stop proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, while furthering the growth of United...
- Department of EducationUnited States Department of EducationThe United States Department of Education, also referred to as ED or the ED for Education Department, is a Cabinet-level department of the United States government...
- Environmental Protection AgencyUnited States Environmental Protection AgencyThe U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is an agency of the federal government of the United States charged with protecting human health and the environment, by writing and enforcing regulations based on laws passed by Congress...
- Department of Commerce National Institute of Standards and TechnologyNational Institute of Standards and TechnologyThe National Institute of Standards and Technology , known between 1901 and 1988 as the National Bureau of Standards , is a measurement standards laboratory, otherwise known as a National Metrological Institute , which is a non-regulatory agency of the United States Department of Commerce...
- Intelligence CommunityIntelligence communityIntelligence community may refer to* Bangladeshi intelligence community* Croatian intelligence community * Israeli intelligence community* Italian intelligence community, see SISMI...
- Department of DefenseUnited States Department of DefenseThe United States Department of Defense is the U.S...
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration
- Department of EnergyUnited States Department of EnergyThe United States Department of Energy is a Cabinet-level department of the United States government concerned with the United States' policies regarding energy and safety in handling nuclear material...
Office of Basic Energy Sciences Office of Industrial Technologies - National Science FoundationNational Science FoundationThe National Science Foundation is a United States government agency that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. Its medical counterpart is the National Institutes of Health...
- Department of Health and Human Services National Institutes of HealthNational Institutes of HealthThe National Institutes of Health are an agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services and are the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and health-related research. Its science and engineering counterpart is the National Science Foundation...
- Nuclear Regulatory CommissionNuclear Regulatory CommissionThe Nuclear Regulatory Commission is an independent agency of the United States government that was established by the Energy Reorganization Act of 1974 from the United States Atomic Energy Commission, and was first opened January 19, 1975...
- Food and Drug AdministrationFood and Drug AdministrationThe Food and Drug Administration is an agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, one of the United States federal executive departments...
Department of Health and Human Services - Department of State
- National Institute for Occupational Safety and HealthNational Institute for Occupational Safety and HealthThe National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health is the United States’ federal agency responsible for conducting research and making recommendations for the prevention of work-related injury and illness. NIOSH is part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention within the U.S...
Centers for Disease Control and PreventionCenters for Disease Control and PreventionThe Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are a United States federal agency under the Department of Health and Human Services headquartered in Druid Hills, unincorporated DeKalb County, Georgia, in Greater Atlanta...
Department of Health and Human Services - Department of Homeland Security (which includes Transportation Security AdministrationTransportation Security AdministrationThe Transportation Security Administration is an agency of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security that exercises authority over the safety and security of the traveling public in the United States....
) - Department of JusticeUnited States Department of JusticeThe United States Department of Justice , is the United States federal executive department responsible for the enforcement of the law and administration of justice, equivalent to the justice or interior ministries of other countries.The Department is led by the Attorney General, who is nominated...
- Department of LaborUnited States Department of LaborThe United States Department of Labor is a Cabinet department of the United States government responsible for occupational safety, wage and hour standards, unemployment insurance benefits, re-employment services, and some economic statistics. Many U.S. states also have such departments. The...
- Department of TransportationUnited States Department of TransportationThe United States Department of Transportation is a federal Cabinet department of the United States government concerned with transportation. It was established by an act of Congress on October 15, 1966, and began operation on April 1, 1967...
- International Trade Commission
- U.S. Patent and Trademark Office
- Department of the TreasuryUnited States Department of the TreasuryThe Department of the Treasury is an executive department and the treasury of the United States federal government. It was established by an Act of Congress in 1789 to manage government revenue...
- Department of the Interior
Clinton and Bush's influence
President Bill ClintonBill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
advocated nanotechnology
Nanotechnology
Nanotechnology is the study of manipulating matter on an atomic and molecular scale. Generally, nanotechnology deals with developing materials, devices, or other structures possessing at least one dimension sized from 1 to 100 nanometres...
development. In a 21 January 2000 speech http://pr.caltech.edu/events/presidential_speech/ at the California Institute of Technology
California Institute of Technology
The California Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Pasadena, California, United States. Caltech has six academic divisions with strong emphases on science and engineering...
, Clinton, "Some of our research goals may take twenty or more years to achieve, but that is precisely why there is an important role for the federal government." President George W. Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
further increased funding for nanotechnology. In 2003 Bush signed into law the 21st Century Nanotechnology Research and Development Act (Public Law 108-153 http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=108_cong_public_laws&docid=f:publ153.108), which authorizes expenditures for five of the participating agencies totaling $3.63 billion over four years.http://www.nano.gov/html/res/Sen.AllenNational_Nanotechnology_Initiative_Conference_4.1.04.htm. This law is an authorization
Authorization
Authorization is the function of specifying access rights to resources, which is related to information security and computer security in general and to access control in particular. More formally, "to authorize" is to define access policy...
, not an appropriation
Appropriation (law)
In law and government, appropriation is the act of setting apart something for its application to a particular usage, to the exclusion of all other uses....
, and subsequent appropriations for these five agencies have not met the goals set out in the 2003 Act. However, there are many agencies involved in the Initiative that are not covered by the Act, and requested budgets under the Initiative for all participating agencies in Fiscal Years 2006 - 2008 totaled over $1 billion each. The current NNI budget supplement for Fiscal Year 2009 provides $1.5 billion dollars to the NNI, reflecting steady growth in the nanotechnology investment. (See the Summary of the Supplement to the President's Budget for Fiscal Year 2009 http://www.nano.gov/NNI_FY09_budget_summary.pdf).
In December 2007 the National Nanotechnology Initiative released a Strategic Plan outlining updated goals and "program component areas" http://www.nano.gov/NNI_Strategic_Plan_2007.pdf," as required under the terms of the Act. This follows the Strategic Plan released in December 2004.
See also
- Council of Advisors on Science and Technology
- Signature initiative
- United States federal loan guarantee
- Translational researchTranslational researchTranslational research is a way of thinking about and conducting scientific research to make the results of research applicable to the population under study and is practised in the natural and biological, behavioural, and social sciences...