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A shift in emphasis for the U.S. National Nanotechnology Initiative (Safe Nano, 6/6/08) |
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June 06, 2008 |
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Emulated around the world, the U.S. National Nanotechnology
Initiative (NNI) has set the pace for government-driven nanotechnology research
and development. Yet as the science and technology of working at the
nanoscale mature, the challenges of transforming laboratory curiosities into
safe, successful and sustainable products loom large. The National
Nanotechnology Initiative Amendments Act of 2008—just passed by the U.S. House
of Representatives—aims to tackle these challenges head-on.
The 21st Century Nanotechnology Research and Development Act,
signed by President Bush In 2003, codified the NNI as a cross-agency research
and development initiative focused on knowledge generation to underpin new
technological advances. In this, the NNI has been an unqualified success.
Even accounting for research re branding (“nano” is most definitely a broad
church), the NNI has stimulated tremendous advances in understanding how
materials behave and can be manipulated at the nanoscale; and the new
possibilities that open up as a result. But as an R&D initiative, the
NNI has struggled to bridge the gap between innovative science and sustainable
technologies.
This year the 2003 Act is up for reauthorization, and both
the U.S. House and Senate are looking to further support the potential economic
and social benefits that nanotech R&D promises. The bill just passed by the
House (by a vote of 407 to 6) is an important step towards ensuring
nanotechnology’s use in the service of society. Still to come is a Senate
bill addressing the reauthorization, but the signs are positive that as
nanotechnology begins to grow up, the emphasis is shifting from generating new
knowledge to using it wisely.
Read the full article here.
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Last Updated ( June 09, 2008 )
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