The National Nanotechnology Initiative Amendments Act of 2008

Opening Statement By Chairman Bart Gordon

I want to welcome everyone to this morning’s hearing to review a draft Committee bill to amend and strengthen the National Nanotechnology Initiative.

The term "revolutionary technology" has become a cliché, but nanotechnology truly is revolutionary.  We stand at the threshold of an age in which materials and devices can be fashioned atom-by-atom to satisfy specified design requirements.  Nanotechnology-based applications are arising that were not even imagined a decade ago.

Nanotechnology is not a single technology, but is rather is a collection of tools and concepts for observing, controlling, and manipulating matter at the atomic scale.

The range of potential applications is broad and will have enormous consequences for electronics, energy transformation and storage, materials, and medicine and health, to name a few examples.  Indeed, the scope of this technology is so broad as to leave virtually no product untouched.

The Science and Technology Committee recognized the promise of nanotechnology early on, holding our first hearing a decade ago to review Federal activities in the field.  The Committee was subsequently instrumental in the development and enactment of a statute in 2003 that authorized the interagency National Nanotechnology Initiative – the NNI.

The 2003 statute put in place formal interagency planning, budgeting, and coordinating mechanisms for NNI.  It now receives funding from 13 agencies and has a budget of $1.5 billion for fiscal year 2008, which represents a doubling of the budget over five years.

The NNI statute also provides for formal reviews of the content and management of the program by the National Academies and by a designated advisory committee of non-government experts.  Their assessments of NNI have been generally positive.

The cooperation and planning processes among the participating agencies in the NNI have been largely effective.  The NNI has led to productive, cooperative research efforts across a spectrum of disciplines, and it has established a network of national facilities for support of nanoscale research and development.

Therefore, the NNI does not require extensive renovation.  The draft bill leaves its major features unchanged, but does adjust some important priorities and strengthen some specific aspects of the program.  I would like to highlight two key features of the bill.

The first area is risk reduction.  Nanotechnology is advancing rapidly, and at least 600 products have entered commerce that contain nanoscale materials, including aerosols and cosmetics.

It is important for the successful development of nanotechnology that potential downsides of the technology be addressed from the beginning in a straightforward and open way.

We know too well that negative public perceptions about the safety of a technology can have serious consequences for its acceptance and use.  This has been the case with nuclear power, genetically modified foods, and stem cell therapies.

The science base is not now available to pin down what types of engineered nanomaterials may be dangerous, although early studies show some are potentially harmful.  We don’t yet know what characteristics of these materials are most significant to determine their effects on living things or on the environment.

Nor do we even have the instruments for effectively monitoring the presence of such materials in air or water.

Although the NNI has from its beginnings realized the need to include activities for increasing understanding of the environmental and safety aspects of nanotechnology, it has been slow to put in place a well designed, adequately funded, and effectively executed research program.

The environmental and safety component of NNI must be improved by quickly developing and implementing a strategic research plan that specifies near-term and long-term goals, sets milestones and timeframes for meeting near-term goals, clarifies agencies’ roles in implementing the plan, and allocates sufficient resources to accomplish the goals.

This is the essential first step for the development of nanotechnology to ensure that sound science guides the formulation of regulatory rules and requirements.  It will reduce the current uncertainty that inhibits commercial development of nanotechnology and will provide a sound basis for future rulemaking.

I am interested in hearing the views of our witnesses on the provisions of the bill relevant to the development and implementation of an effective environmental, health and safety research component for the NNI, and particularly, on whether it would be beneficial to specifically set aside a portion of the overall NNI budget for this purpose, as is proposed in the draft bill.

The second area of the legislation I want to highlight involves capturing the economic benefits of nanotechnology.

Too often the U.S. has led in the basic research on the frontiers of science and technology but has failed to capitalize on the commercial developments flowing from new discoveries.

The NNI has so far invested approximately $7 billion over 7 years in basic research that is providing new tools for the manipulation of matter at the nanoscale and is increasing our understanding of the behavior of engineered nanoscale materials and devices.  Increased consideration should now be given to support of efforts to foster the transfer of new discoveries to commercial products and processes.

The draft bill includes provisions to encourage use of nanotechnology facilities by companies for prototyping and proof of concert studies, and it specifies steps for increasing the number of nanotechnology related projects supported under the Small Business Innovation Research Program and by the Technology Innovation Program, established under the COMPETES Act.

To increase the relevance and value of the NNI, the draft bill also authorizes large-scale, focused, multi-agency research and development initiatives in areas of national need.

For example, such efforts could be organized around developing a replacement for the silicon-based transistor, developing new nanotechnology-based devices for harvesting solar energy, or nanoscale sensors for detecting cancer.

The draft NNI Amendments Act was developed on the basis of recommendations from formal reviews of the NNI by the National Academy of Sciences and by the President’s Council of Advisors for Science and Technology, which currently acts as the external advisory committee for NNI.  It also incorporates recommendations from witness testimony from NNI hearings during this and the previous Congress and from comments and recommendations resulting from staff discussions with various stakeholder groups.

This legislation is still a work in progress.  Today I look forward to the observations of our witnesses and invite them to give the Committee their recommendations for ways to improve the bill.

I want to thank our witnesses for their attendance at this hearing and look forward to our discussion.

Witnesses

Panel

1 - Mr. Floyd E. Kvamme
Co-Chair President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology
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2 - Mr. Sean Murdock
Executive Director NanoBusiness Alliance NanoBusiness Alliance
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3 - Mr. Joseph Krajcik
Associate Dean for Research and Professor of Education University of Michigan University of Michigan
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4 - Dr. Andrew Maynard
Chief Science Advisor, Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies Woodrow Wilson Center Woodrow Wilson Center
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5 - Dr. Raymond David
Manager of Toxicology BASF Corporation BASF Corporation
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6 - Dr. Robert R. Doering
Senior Fellow and Research Strategy Manager Texas Instruments Texas Instruments
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