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OCR for page 27
A
Statement of Task
The statements below introduce and present the statement of task for the Committee on Triennial
Review of the National Nanotechnology Initiative: Phase II.
BACKGROUND
The National Research Council will appoint a committee to conduct the next triennial NNI review
as specified in the law. Pursuant to Section 5 of Public Law 108-153, the director of the National
Nanotechnology Coordination Office (NNCO) has requested the next triennial review of the National
Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI). As noted in an earlier report (National Research Council, A Matter of
Size: Triennial Review of the National Nanotechnology Initiative, The National Academies Press,
Washington, D.C., 2006), 1 “the NNI is not a government research program per se, since it does not
distribute research support to individual scientists or R&D centers and consortia. Rather, the NNI is a
mechanism for the coordination of federal research interests in nanotechnology” (p. 1). The NNI has
provided more than $12 billion in investments over the past decade. For the current study, the NNCO is
particularly interested in examining the role of the NNI in maximizing opportunities to transfer selected
technologies to the private sector (e.g., in electronics, structural materials, coatings); suggesting
appropriate metrics for determining the impact of various nanotechnologies; comparing U.S. efforts to
promote the development and utilization of various nanotechnologies with those of other countries; and
reviewing NNI’s management and coordination of nanotechnology research across both civilian and
military federal agencies.
STATEMENT OF TASK
The National Research Council will appoint a committee to conduct the next triennial NNI review
as specified in the law. The overall objective for this NNI review is to make recommendations to the
Nanoscale Science, Engineering, and Technology (NSET) Subcommittee and the National
Nanotechnology Coordination Office that will improve the value of the National Nanotechnology
Initiative’s (NNI’s) strategy and portfolio for basic research, applied research, and applications of
nanotechnology to advance the commercialization, manufacturing capability, national economy, and
national security interest of the United States. Toward this objective the NNI review will include the tasks
listed below.
Examine the role of the NNI in maximizing opportunities to transfer selected technologies to
the private sector, provide an assessment of how well the NNI is carrying out this role, and suggest new
1
Available at http://www.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=11752&page=1.
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mechanisms to foster transfer of technologies and improvements to NNI operations in this area where
warranted;
Assess the suitability of current procedures and criteria for determining progress towards NNI
goals, suggest definitions of success and associated metrics, and provide advice on those organizations
(government or non-government) that could perform evaluations of progress; and
Review NNI’s management and coordination of nanotechnology research across both civilian
and military federal agencies.
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