A major stride in nanotechnology

National Nanotechnology Initiative: The Initiative and its ImplementationPlan

The National Science and Technology Council took the next step toward a multiagency initiative to make advances in nanotechnology by releasing a report and implementation plan Thursday for the National Nanotechnology Initiative.

The initiative became one of President Clinton's top priorities when he requested $495 million for fiscal 2001. It would require the collaboration of agencies including the departments of Defense, Energy and Commerce; the National Science Foundation; NASA; and the National Institutes of Health.

The report describes the investment strategy for grand challenges in nanotechnology and provides milestones for the initiative. It also describes the National Nanotechnology Coordinating Office, which will be responsible for managing the multiagency initiative and for preventing the duplication of efforts.

NSF, which has coordinated the national Information Technology Research program office, will be responsible for the coordinating office for nanotechnology, said Michael Daum, an agency representative to the National Economic Council.

Nanotechnology is a science that works at the atomic and molecular level to create any type of structure or device with improved molecular organization. Nanotechnology can be used to build anything — not just computers.