I am very excited to share with you the following report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO).  NanoBCA and our members were involved in contributing information for this report.

The GAO has released a report entitled Nanomanufacturing: Emergence and Implications for U.S. Competitiveness, the Environment, and Human Health (GAO-14-181SP) prepared in response to a letter of request from the Chairman of the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee. Under the leadership of the Comptroller General of the United States and in partnership with key experts, GAO convened a strategic forum in July 2013 to explore participants’ views concerning:

(1)    the anticipated scope of future nanomanufacturing developments and related effects;
(2)    U.S. investments and competitiveness in nanotechnology R&D, as compared to other leading nations—and current challenges to U.S. competitiveness in nanomanufacturing;
(3)    options for enhancing U.S. nanomanufacturing competitiveness; and
(4)    issues in addressing the environmental, health, and safety implications of nanomanufacturing.

This report is the result of key input from expert forum participants (listed in appendix II) and was prepared by an interdisciplinary team assembled across GAO.  Our foresight methodology for this work also involved the development of expert-based, forward-looking industry profiles involving nanotechnology and nanomanufacturing activity (listed in appendix IV).  The project is also grateful for the key support provided by the U.S. National Academy of Sciences and the National Research Council staff.

The report summary page and link to download the full report in PDF is found here:
www.gao.gov/products/GAO-14-181SP

Related to this, we have also put together a brief podcast on the report which is posted here: http://www.gao.gov/multimedia/podcast/660285

Finally, GAO’s blog, called WatchBlog, presents an overview of the report here:
blog.gao.gov/

For any questions about or feedback on the report, please contact:

Timothy M. Persons, Ph.D.
Chief Scientist
United States Government Accountability Office
personst@gao.gov / www.gao.gov / www.twitter.com/@GAOChfScientist
(202) 512-6412

Related to the GAO’s report, Timothy has written an Op-Ed for Scientific America.  I recommend this to our NanoBCA members. The piece is found here:

Does the American Innovation System Need a Reboot?
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/does-the-american-innovation-system-need-a-reboot/

Kudos to the GAO on their fabulous report.

Regards,

Vincent Caprio “Serving the Nanotechnology Community for Over a Decade”
Executive Director
NanoBusiness Commercialization Association
203-733-1949
vincent@nanobca.org
www.nanobca.org
www.vincentcaprio.org