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1
Background
The National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI), a multiagency, U.S. government research and
development (R&D) initiative, was established in fiscal year (FY) 2001 to accelerate R&D in the
emerging field of nanotechnology: 1
The vision of the NNI is a future in which the ability to understand and control matter at the
nanoscale leads to a revolution in technology and industry that benefits society. The NNI
expedites the discovery, development, and deployment of nanoscale science, engineering, and
technology to serve the public good, through a program of coordinated research and development
aligned with the missions of the participating agencies.
Starting with eight core agencies in 2001, the NNI now coordinates nanotechnology-related R&D
of 26 federal agencies, focusing on four goals (see Box 1.1).
The view of how to achieve the NNI vision has evolved. Starting with the 2004 Strategic Plan,
general descriptions of each goal were provided along with selected individual examples. Now the NNI
has qualitative, semiquantitative, and quantitative subgoals—as many as five—for each major goal. In
addition, the NNI has established five interagency signature initiatives, cross-sector collaborations
designed to accelerate innovation in subjects of high national priority through coordination of
multiagency resources to meet specific agreed-on scientific and technologic goals; to promote
development of joint research solicitations; and to engage in sponsorship of a wide variety of interagency
meetings, workshops, and forums to support knowledge-sharing.
The federal government has given high priority to the alignment of nanotechnology R&D with
the missions of the individual agencies. For most agencies, nanotechnology R&D is not an end in itself
but rather, in some cases, an enabling technologic means of accomplishing their missions. Each agency
determines its budget for nanotechnology R&D as part of its overall mission R&D priorities in
coordination with the Office of Management and Budget, the Office of Science and Technology Policy,
and Congress. The NNI is planned and coordinated by the Nanoscale Science, Engineering, and
Technology (NSET) Subcommittee of the National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) Committee
on Technology, through which the agency members present their priorities and establish shared goals,
strategies, and activities when their agency priorities align. The 2011 NSET Strategic Plan describes the
agencies, their missions, how they view the NNI, and how the NNI fits into their missions. Each NNI
participating agency is obliged to carry out its mission and achieve its goals while coordinating and
collaborating with other agencies in subjects of mutual interest and mission need. 2
1
See National Science and Technology Council, National Nanotechnology Initiative Strategic Plan, February
2011, available at http://www.nano.gov/sites/default/files/pub_resource/2011_strategic_plan.pdf. Accessed April 24,
2012.
2
Department of Defense Director, Defense Research and Engineering, Defense Nanotechnology Research and
Development Program, December 2009. Available at http://www.nano.gov/sites/default/files/pub_resource/dod-
report_to_congress_final_1mar10.pdf. Accessed March 3, 2012.
3
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BOX 1.1
Goals of the National Nanotechnology Initiative
The National Nanotechnology Initiative focuses on four major goals:
To advance world-class nanotechnology research and development.
To foster the transfer of new technologies into products for commercial and public benefit.
To develop and sustain educational resources, a skilled workforce, and the supporting infrastructure and
tools to advance nanotechnology.
To support the responsible development of nanotechnology.
To focus interagency collaboration in strategic fields, the NSET Subcommittee has established
four cross-agency working groups: Global Issues in Nanotechnology; Nanotechnology Environmental
and Health Implications; Nanomanufacturing, Industry Liaison, and Innovation; and Nanotechnology
Public Engagement and Communications. The National Nanotechnology Coordination Office (NNCO)
provides technical and administrative support to the NSET Subcommittee, serves as the central point of
contact for federal NNI R&D activities, and reaches out to the public on behalf of the NNI. 3 The current
cumulative NNI investment is now about $18 billion, which includes the president’s request for FY
2013. 4
Pursuant to Section 5 of Public Law 108-153, the director of the NNCO requested that the
National Research Council conduct the second triennial review of the NNI. The statement of task for the
Committee on Triennial Review of the National Nanotechnology Initiative: Phase II is given in Appendix
A. The overall objective of the committee’s review is to make recommendations to the NSET
Subcommittee and the NNCO that will improve the value of the NNI’s strategy and portfolio for basic
research, applied research, and development of applications to provide economic, societal, and national-
security benefits to U.S. citizens.
The statement of task reflects the broad attention to and interest in optimizing the federal
government’s investments to advance the commercialization, manufacturing capability, national
economy, and national security of the United States. For example, the President’s Council of Advisors on
Science and Technology (PCAST) 2010 Report to the President and Congress on the Third Assessment of
the National Nanotechnology Initiative stated that “the NNCO must develop metrics for program outputs”
and “work with the Bureau of Economic Analysis to develop metrics and collect data on the economic
impacts of the NNI.” 5 The NSET 2011 Strategic Plan established the objective to “develop quantitative
measures to assess the performance of the U.S. nanotechnology R&D program relative to that of other
major economies, in coordination with broader efforts to develop metrics for innovation.” 6 The PCAST
2012 Report to the President and Congress on the Third Assessment of the National Nanotechnology
Initiative reiterated its earlier recommendation, calling for the NNCO to “track the development of
metrics for quantifying the Federal nanotechnology portfolio and implement them to assess NNI
outputs.” 7,8
3
See http://www.nano.gov/about-nni/nnco. Accessed February 21, 2013.
4
See http://www.wtec.org/nano2/Nanotechnology_Research_Directions_to_2020/chapter00-2.pdf. Accessed
February 21, 2013.
5
Report to the President and Congress on the Third Assessment of the National Nanotechnology Initiative,
President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, March 2010.
6
National Science and Technology Council, National Nanotechnology Initiative Strategic Plan, February 2011,
available at http://www.nano.gov/sites/default/files/pub_resource/2011_strategic_plan.pdf. Accessed April 24,
2012.
7
Report to the President and Congress on the Fourth Assessment of the National Nanotechnology Initiative,
President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, April 2012.
4
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The NNI has now reached a level of achievement and maturity such that its participating agencies
are examining the possibility of developing better definitions of success and associated metrics that will
guide the agencies individually and the NNI as a whole in expediting “the discovery, development, and
deployment of nanoscale science, engineering, and technology to serve the public good” 9 to accomplish
the four highly integrated NNI goals. This interim report provides the committee’s initial comments
related to Task 2: to assess whether the current procedures and metrics are suitable for determining
progress toward NNI goals and to suggest alternative definitions of success and their associated metrics.
Recommendations related to this task and to Tasks 1 and 3 will be offered in the committee’s final report.
8
A related study on this subject is the 2012 National Research Council report Improving Measures of Science,
Technology, and Innovation: Interim Report (National Academies Press, Washington, D.C., 2012), which examines
the current status of science and technology indicators developed and published by the National Science
Foundation’s National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics (NCSES) to measure (1) the condition and
progress of U.S. science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and workforce development,
(2) U.S. innovation and competitiveness in science, technology, and R&D compared with other countries, and (3)
whether the NCSES’s statistical activities are focused properly to produce the information that policy-makers,
researchers, and businesses need for decision-making.
9
National Science and Technology Council, National Nanotechnology Initiative Strategic Plan, February 2011,
available at http://www.nano.gov/sites/default/files/pub_resource/2011_strategic_plan.pdf. Accessed April 24, 2012.
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