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December 5, 2016

Obama’s Actions to Promote American Entrepreneurship Include Supporting Nanotechnology Industry

Lynn L. Bergeson Carla N. Hutton

On November 30, 2016, the White House published a blog item, “President Obama’s Top Ten Actions to Accelerate American Entrepreneurship,” and posted a fact sheet on President Obama’s entrepreneurship accomplishments.  The tenth action is “Unleashed entrepreneurship in the industries of the future, including clean energy, biotechnology, the commercial space industry, nanotechnology, drones, robotics, advanced manufacturing, and more.”  The fact sheet lists several National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI) programs and states that the NNI invested over $150 million per year in user facilities at federal laboratories and universities that provide entrepreneurs low- or no-cost access to state-of-the-art instrumentation.  NNI also cumulatively funded more than $700 million of nanotechnology-related research by small businesses.  In addition, NNI catalyzed the creation of a Nano and Emerging Technology Student Network and annual conference with a specific goal of promoting entrepreneurship.