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Public Consultation on US NNI Strategic Plan 2010

Published: Sunday 4 July 2010

In the US Federal Register published on the 6th July 2010 (Vol. 75, No. 128), the US White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) posted a Request for Information (RFI) in support of the National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI) Strategic Plan 2010. According to the notice, the RFI aims to ‘enhance the value of the National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI) by reaching out to the nanotechnology stakeholder community for specific input for the next NNI Strategic Plan to be published in December 2010.’

‘This RFI refers to the NNI Goals identified from the 2007 [NNI] Strategic Plan [...] as a starting point for questions covering themes such as research priorities, investment, coordination, partnerships, evaluation, and policy.’

The OSTP is interested in responses that address one or more of the following questions (for background information and examples on these questions, please download the relevant Federal Register notice:

A. Goals and Objectives

  • A1. What specific and measurable objectives should be established to help achieve the four stated NNI goals?
  • A2. Are there other overarching goals that would enable the NNI to better support the vision of 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?

B. Research Priorities

  • B1. What are the most important gaps in the NNI R&D portfolio (i.e., specific underfunded areas ripe for success) that should be addressed to achieve the NNI goal(s) (please specify 1, 2, 3, and/or 4)?
  • B2. What nanotechnology R&D areas should NNI member agencies pursue under the Nanotechnology Signature Initiatives model of close and targeted program-level interagency collaboration to help accelerate nanotechnology innovation?
  • B3. What are the most important scientific and technical challenges that would need to be met to realize the NNI goal(s) (1, 2, 3, and/or 4) and objectives?

C. Investment

  • C1. What types of research and development investments (e.g. support for individual investigators, small teams, centers, research infrastructure, etc.) should the NNI agencies create, sustain, and/or expand to achieve the NNI goal(s) (please specify 1, 2, 3, and/ or 4)?
  • C2. What relative distribution of research and development investment among the PCAs is needed to achieve the NNI goal(s) (1, 2, 3, and/or 4), and why?
  • C3. What is the appropriate balance for investment in nanotechnology among US private and public entities (i.e., government, corporate R&D, and venture capital) to achieve the NNI goal(s) (please specify 1, 2, 3, and/or 4), and why?

D. Coordination and Partnerships

  • D1. How could the NNI strengthen interagency coordination and collaboration towards specific NNI goal(s) (please specify 1, 2, 3, and/or 4) and objectives?
  • D2. What improved mechanisms may be utilized to facilitate innovative cross-disciplinary research supporting the NNI goal(s) (please specify 1, 2, 3, and/or 4)?
  • D3. What are the most effective roles of the government, industry, academia, and other stakeholders in achieving this NNI goal (1, 2, 3, and/or 4)?
  • D4. What new forms of collaboration between stakeholders should be explored to facilitate nanotechnology-based innovation into applications?
  • D5. What existing activities in the public and private sector could the NNI develop or model to achieve the NNI goal(s) (please specify 1, 2, 3, and/or 4)?
  • D6. What partners or types of partners would need to collaborate (i.e., government, specific foundations and industry groups, new ideas for consortia) to accomplish the NNI goal(s) (please specify 1, 2, 3, and/or 4)?
  • D7. What are effective mechanisms to leverage and/or coordinate USfunded research and development with international efforts?
  • D8. What mechanisms could NNI use to regularly engage experts in academia and industry and other organizations for input on its approach to addressing specific NNI goals (please specify 1, 2, 3, and/or 4)?
  • D9. What is the role of public engagement in achieving specific NNI goals? In what ways can the Federal government best engage with citizens to ensure the sustainable development of nanotechnology-based products with the broadest economic and societal benefits?

E. Evaluation

  • E1. What specific criteria (e.g., nanotechnology publications and citations, nanotechnology patent activity, nanotechnology-related job creation, relative international nanotechnology investments) should the NNI use to evaluate its progress towards the NNI goal(s) (please specify 1, 2, 3, and/or 4) and in what priority order?
  • E2. Which organizations (e.g., government committees, independent organizations, international bodies) should perform the evaluation of progress towards the NNI goal(s) (please specify 1, 2, 3, and/or 4)?
  • E3. How can NNI best balance fundamental and applied research and development towards the NNI goal(s) (please specify 1, 2, 3, and/or 4)?

F. Policy

  • F1. What new, or existing, specific policies should the NNI agencies develop or adjust to support the NNI goal(s) (please specify 1, 2, 3, and/or 4) and to realize the broader economic and societal benefits associated with advances in nanotechnology?
  • F2. What best practices can be drawn from nanotechnology- and innovation-related policies in other sectors and countries?

Response Deadline: Responses to this RFI should be submitted by 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time on 15th August 2010.(Submissions priorto the 13th and 14th July 2010 ‘‘NNI Strategic Plan Stakeholder Workshop’’   may alsoinform dialogues at this event.)Responses must be deliveredelectronically in the body of or as anattachment to an e-mail sent toNNIStrategy@ostp.gov.

Follow these links to find out more about the NNI, or to download the relevant pages of the US Federal Register (6th July 2010), giving more details on the Request for Information.