Nanotechnology Lawyer & Attorney : Bergeson & Campbell Law Firm : Nanotechnology Law Blog

The President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) seeks comment from stakeholders on how the federal government can best use its resources so three of the “newest and most promising technologies,” including nanotechnology, “provide the greatest economic benefits to society.” The President’s Innovation and Technology Advisory Committee (PITAC), which is part of PCAST, is soliciting information and ideas from stakeholders -- including the research community, the private sector, universities, national laboratories, state and local governments, foundations, and nonprofit organizations -- regarding the “Golden Triangle.” Each side of the Golden Triangle represents one of three areas of research that together are transforming the technology landscape today: information technology, biotechnology, and nanotechnology.

PITAC is posing the following question:

What are the critical infrastructures that only government can help provide that are needed to enable creation of new biotechnology, nanotechnology, and information technology products and innovations that will lead to new jobs and greater [gross domestic product (GDP)]?

To obtain comments, PCAST held a live webcast discussion on June 22, 2010. Comments may also be submitted through the OpenPCAST website.

 

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On October 31, 2007, the House Committee on Science and Technology’s Research and Science Education Subcommittee held a hearing on the relationship between environmental and health policy and nanotechnology. The Subcommittee examined how the U.S. can stay at the forefront of scientific research and development, while at the same time establishing priorities and a detailed plan for research on the potential environmental and health risks of engineered nanomaterials. The Science and Technology Committee held two previous hearings on this issue -- one in 2005 and another in 2006 -- with the objective of reviewing the importance of risk research for achieving the potential benefits of nanotechnology and the efforts of the interagency National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI) to put in place a research strategy. Progress in developing the research strategy has been slow, however. The hearing explored the status of the planning efforts and received suggestions from outside witnesses on ways to improve the process.

Witnesses at the hearing included:

• Dr. Clayton Teague, Director of the National Nanotechnology Coordination Office;
• Mr. Floyd Kvamme, Co-Chair of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology;
• Dr. Vicki Colvin, Executive Director, International Council on Nanotechnology and Professor of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Rice University;
• Dr. Andrew Maynard, Chief Science Advisor, Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars;
• Dr. Richard Denison, Senior Scientist, Environmental Defense; and
• Mr. Paul D. Ziegler, Chairman of the Nanotechnology Panel, American Chemistry Council.

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