Lynn L. Bergeson Participates in Congressionally-Requested Forum on Nanomanufacturing, Which Is Summarized in New GAO Report

On February 7, 2014, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report entitled Nanomanufacturing: Emergence and Implications for U.S. Competitiveness, the Environment, and Human Health, which provides highlights from a Congressionally-requested forum on specific issues in nanotechnology manufacturing that was held July 23-24, 2013. The House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology asked the GAO and the National Academies to convene the forum and elicit the views of a group of leading experts, including Lynn L. Bergeson, Managing Partner of Bergeson & Campbell, P.C. The report summarizes forum discussions in the following areas:

• The future of nanomanufacturing, as viewed by forum participants;
• U.S. investments in nanotechnology research and development (R&D) and current challenges to U.S. competitiveness in nanomanufacturing;
• Ways to enhance U.S. competitiveness; and
• Issues in addressing the environmental, health, and safety (EHS) implications of nanomanufacturing.

The report states that forum participants identified gaps and challenges in four key areas where they believe future action is needed:  (1) international data on R&D investment; (2) international standards; (3) U.S. competitiveness; and (4) EHS issues. The report includes profiles of four nanomanufacturing industries: “Nanotechnology and the Future of the Semiconductor Industry”; “Nanotechnology and the Future of Battery-Powered Vehicles”; “Nanotechnology and the Future of Nano-Based Concrete”; and “Nanotechnology and the Future of Nanotherapeutics in Medicine.”