Liberal Arts Services

Government Research and Funding

The US government has funded nanotechnology research for several decades but, until recently, these efforts were not coordinated and facilities were granted modest funds for small projects. However, the situation changed in the late 1990s with the emergence of the National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI) and significant increases in Federal funding for a wide variety of interrelated scientific and technological research efforts. One of the key figures in the shift in Federal funding for nanotechnology is Mihail Roco, NNI director. In 2000, then President Bill Clinton announced the founding of the NNI at Caltech (the same university where Richard Feynman first envisioned the future of nanotechnology four decades earlier) and Federal funding for this emerging form of research quickly multiplied (Graph 1)

Government agencies which currently receive funding for nanotechnology research and development activities from the NNI include the National Science Foundation, Department of Defense, Department of Energy, National Institutes of Health (Department of Health and Human Services), National Institute of Standards and Technology (Department of Commerce), National Aeronautics and Space Administration, US Department of Agriculture, Environmental Protection Agency, National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (Department of Health and Human Services), and the Transportation Security Administration (Department of Homeland Security). The funding trends for each agency are summarized in Graph 2.

One of the most controversial applications of nanotechnology research and development is its military applications. In May 2003, the Department of Defense unveiled a new $50 million Institute for Soldier Nanotechnologies at MIT. All of the publicly announced projects are framed as defensive technologies. These include an exoskeleton which the soldier could change from hard to soft at a command, clothing that stores energy derived from the soldier’s footsteps, and tools to detect weapons of mass destruction.

While the US government is a major investor in nanotechnology research and development, other countries have also invested in the emerging technology, particularly in northern Europe and Southeast Asia. Graph 3 shows worldwide government funding trends. In 2000, the NNI estimated that 20,000 researchers were currently working on nanotechnology worldwide and that an estimated 2 million workers would be needed by 2015 to support nanotechnology industries.

The international perspective on nanotechnology is particularly intriguing. The NNI emerged at an important juncture in world politics when economic competitiveness replaced military struggle as the primary rationale and motivation for science and technology funding. Nanotechnology was perceived as a key pursuit in the economic competition between the US, Europe, and Southeast Asia. US policymakers were keen to be at the forefront of this “Next Industrial Revolution” and Federal funding has increased rapidly.