Triennial Review of the National Nanotechnology Initiative (2013) / Chapter Skim
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budgets that relate to nanotechnology, with the reported NNI budget representing the collective sum of these investments. Funding support for nanotechnology R&D stems directly from NNI 1 See National Nanotechnology Initiative, "NNI Vision Goals and Objectives," available at http:// www.nano.gov/about-nni/what/vision-goals, accessed on January 9, 2013.
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With the support of the NNI, nanotechnology R&D is taking place in academic, government, and industry laboratories across the United States. BOX S.1 The Four National Nanotechnology Initiative Goals 1.
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(Box S.2 gives the abbreviated task in the charge for the Committee on Triennial Review of the National Nanotechnology Initiative.) In its assessment, the committee found it important to understand in some detail -- and to describe in its report -- the NNI's structure and organization (Chapter 1)
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•• Second, planning, management, and coordination can be enhanced by developing and implementing interagency plans for focused areas, i.e., the signature initiatives and the working groups. Effective plans usually have clearly laid out goals, desired outcomes, and models and actions linking investment, outputs, and short-term outcomes to long-term outcomes.
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The NNCO budget is approved by the NSET Subcommittee and funded by agency contributions that are prorated according to the agencies' respective NNI budgets. The challenge, then, is for the NNI to develop, implement, and track targeted goals, metrics, and processes that allow participating agencies to maximize the return on their individual investments, while also maximizing the collective return to U.S.
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3 National Research Council, Interim Report for the Triennial Review of the National Nanotechnology Initiative, Phase II, The National Academies Press, Washington, D.C., 2012 (reprinted in Appendix E)
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: An overarching definition of success for the NNI as a federal initiative should be evidence that NNI agencies are establishing and implementing an effective, explicit framework for planning, managing, and coordinating publicly identified NNI interagency programs, such as the signa ture initiatives. Such a framework should be based on essential performance management concepts, and plans for and progress toward specific outcomes should be reported annually in the NNI supplement to the President's budget.
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: The NSET Subcommittee and the NNCO should obtain data-mining expertise to undertake the collection and collation of essential data sets, develop tools to analyze the data in accordance with the management and reporting needs of the NNCO and the agencies, and manage the process of making the data sets publicly available. The committee notes that creating perfect data sets for assessing and managing the NNI is neither reasonable nor possible.
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, and link these data to published paper and patent databases, which over time may be linked to social and economic outcomes. MANAGEMENT AND COORDINATION Management and coordination of the NNI have emphasized the sharing of information among participating agencies, development of strategic plans with broad goals, annual reports that include agency spending (planned and actual)
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The NNI website is a primary vehicle for managing and sharing a variety of information. It provides introductory material on nanotechnology aimed at all ages and contains links to NNI reports, workshop announcements, research centers and user facilities, and funding opportunities.
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Whereas the breadth of NNI R&D and the diversity of agency missions and needs make it impractical and in some cases unhelpful for the NSET Subcommittee to manage and coordinate the entire portfolio of activities in support of NNI goals, the signature initiatives offer clear opportunities and pathways for accelerating progress in targeted subjects. The current signature initiatives are as follows: •• Nanotechnology for Solar Energy Collection and Conversion: Contributing to Energy Solutions for the Future; •• Sustainable Nanomanufacturing: Creating the Industries of the Future; •• Nanoelectronics for 2020 and Beyond; •• Nanotechnology Knowledge Infrastructure (NKI)
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The NSET Subcommittee and the signature initiative teams should expand the associated white papers to include specific goals (outcomes) with quantifiable technical targets where possible, milestones for reaching them, expected outputs and short-term outcomes, and roles and responsibili ties of the (two or more)
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Current NNI activities aimed at technology transfer include holding workshops focused on regional nanotechnology economic development efforts and tracking and reporting Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR)
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CONCLUDING COMMENTS The NSET Subcommittee, NNI agencies, and the NNCO are to be commended for their work and progress to date in coordinating such a diverse multiagency program. The NNI has been a leader among interagency initiatives in many ways.
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