President Signs $3.7 Billion Nanotechnology Act
December 8, 2003

By James Klein, Larta VOX Editor

President Bush signed the 21st Century Nanotechnology Research and Development Act on December 3, 2003. The legislation authorizes $3.7 billion over four years for nanoscience, nanoengineering, and nanotechnology research, and provides for the President to create a National Nanotechnology Research Program.

The Act seeks to fund long-term nanoscale research and development leading to potential breakthroughs in such areas as materials and manufacturing, electronics, medicine and healthcare, environment, energy, chemicals, biotechnology, agriculture, information technology, and national security technology.

With its passage of the 21st Century Nanotechnology Research and Development Act, Congress recognizes that the emerging fields of nanoscience and nanoengineering is leading to "…unprecedented scientific and technological opportunities that will benefit society by changing the way many things are designed and made."

"This Act represents a concerted effort on the part of the Federal government to fund and contribute to the developcment of nanotechnology. It also explicitly recognizes the importance of long-term, high-risk, high-impact, enabling scientific research," said Rohit Shukla, President and CEO of Larta, who was invited to the signing ceremony in Washington, D.C.

"The Act acknowledges that the Federal government's involvement and financial support at the earliest stages of innovative research is necessary and vital for such innovations to occur," continued Shukla. "It assures a focused national effort on behalf of the most enabling technological innovation of our time, one with the greatest and most widespread impact in every field of activity. It will also be both a match and a boost to our own efforts in California, whose State government has been enlightened in its support for nanotechnology through the California Nanosystems Institute, a research collaboration between UCSB and UCLA, in our region."

The legislation asserts that research requires government funding since the benefits are too distant or uncertain for industry alone to support. Legislators explicitly state that there is "…a risk that future funding for long-term, innovative research will be tentative and subject to instability which could threaten to hinder future United States technological and economic growth." The Act states that the federal government can play an important role in the development of nanotechnology, as this science is still in its infancy, and it will take many years of sustained investment for this field to achieve maturity.

According to the Act, nanotechnology is defined as a science "…in which matter is manipulated at the atomic level (i.e., atom-by- atom or molecule-by-molecule) in order to build materials, machines, and devices with novel properties or functions."

The Act cites various estimates, including those of the National Science Foundation, that the market for nanotech products and services in the United States alone could reach over $1 trillion later this century. Authors of the Act assert that nanotechnology "…could be as significant as the combined influences of microelectronics, biotechnology, and information technology on the 20th century," and predict that nanotechnology could lead to:

· New generations of electronics where the entire collection of the Library of Congress is stored on devices the size of a sugar cube.

· Manufacturing that requires less material, pollutes less, and is embedded with sophisticated sensors that will internally detect signs of weakness and automatically respond by releasing chemicals that will prevent damage.

· Prosthetic and medical implants whose surfaces are molecularly designed to interact with the cells of the body.

· Materials with an unprecedented combination of strength, toughness, and lightness that will enable land, sea, air, and space vehicles to become lighter and more fuel efficient.

· Selective membranes that can fish out specific toxic or valuable particles from industrial waste or that can inexpensively desalinate sea water.

· Tiny robotic spacecraft that will cost less, consume very little power, adapt to unexpected environments, change its capabilities as needed, and be completely autonomous.

Part of the impetus behind the Act is the fear that the United States will fall behind other nations in the race to develop nanotechnology capabilities. The Act cites international nanotechnology research efforts sponsored by the National Science and Technology Council that conclude the United States is at risk of falling behind its international competitors, including Japan, South Korea, and Europe if it fails to sustain broad based funding in nanotechnology, and that the United States cannot afford to fall behind our competitors if we want to maintain our economic strength.

The fear of the United States losing its technological edge to international competitors is bolstered by educational trends in the United States that evince a shortage of qualified scientists in coming years. The Act states that, "Mastering nanotechnology will require a unique skill set for scientists and engineers that combine chemistry, physics, material science, and information science. Funding in these critical areas has been flat for many years and as a result fewer young people are electing to go into these areas in graduate schools throughout the United States. This will have to reverse if we hope to develop the next generation of skilled workers with multi-disciplinary perspectives necessary for the development of nanotechnology."

National Nanotechnology Research Program

The Act also provides for the President to create a National Nanotechnology Research Program. The program will establish the goals, priorities, challenges, and evaluation criteria for Federal nanotechnology research; invest in Federal research and development programs in nanotechnology and related sciences to achieve those goals; and provide for interagency coordination of Federal nanotechnology research, development, and other activities undertaken pursuant to the program. The National Science and Technology Council will oversee the planning, management, and coordination of the Federal nanotechnology research and development program.

The goals of the National Nanotechnology Research Program are:

· The coordination of long-term fundamental nanoscience and engineering research to build a fundamental understanding of matter enabling control and manipulation at the nanoscale.

· The assurance of continued United States global leadership in nanotechnology to meet national goals and to support national economic, health, national security, educational, and scientific interests.

· The advancement of United States productivity and industrial competitiveness through stable, consistent, and coordinated investments in long-term scientific and engineering research in nanotechnology.

· The development of a network of shared academic facilities and technology centers, including State supported centers, that will play a critical role in accomplishing the other goals of the program, foster partnerships, and develop and utilize next generation scientific tools.

· The development of enabling infrastructural technologies that United States industry can use to commercialize new discoveries and innovations in nanoscience.

· The acceleration of the deployment and transition of advanced and experimental nanotechnology and concepts into the private sector.

· The establishment of a program designed to provide effective education and training for the next generation of researchers and professionals skilled in the multidisciplinary perspectives necessary for nanotechnology.

· To ensure that philosophical, ethical, and other societal concerns will be considered alongside the development of nanotechnology.

In addition, there are specific authorized appropriations for the National Science Foundation to carry out responsibilities and allocations under this Act including stipulations directing the National Science Foundation to encourage, conduct, coordinate, commission, collect, and disseminate studies on the societal, ethical, educational, and workforce implications of nanotechnology. The studies will identify anticipated issues and problems, as well as provide recommendations for preventing or addressing such issues and problems.

Find out more about Larta's White Paper: Nanotechnology: What to Expect
Go to the Nanotechnology section of Larta's Research Archive