OSTP Calls for Nanotechnology-Inspired Grand Challenges

The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) recently issued a Request for Information (RFI) seeking suggestions for Nanotechnology-Inspired Grand Challenges for the Next Decade. A component of President Barack Obama’s Strategy for American Innovation, Grand Challenges are defined as “ambitious but achievable goals that harness nanoscience, nanotechnology, and innovation to solve important national or global problems and have the potential to capture the public’s imagination.”

Under the National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI), scientists, engineers and educators are working to ensure a future in which the ability to understand and control matter at the nanoscale leads to a revolution in technology and industry. In a recent review of the NNI, the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology called for government agencies, industry, and the research community to identify and pursue nanotechnology Grand Challenges.

By issuing the Request for Information, OSTP is seeking innovative ideas from researchers in academia and industry, non-governmental organizations, scientific and professional societies, and other interested members of the public. These ideas for Grand Challenges should harness nanoscience and nanotechnology to solve important national or global problems; stimulate additional public and private investment; and foster the commercialization of federally funded nanotechnology research.

The RFI includes examples of several potential Grand Challenges — addressing health care, electronics, materials, sustainability, and product safety concerns — that were developed to illustrate how Grand Challenges should be framed and to spur the development of additional nanotechnology-related Grand Challenges.

Proposals must be received by July 16. For more information, visit www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2015/06/17/call-nanotechnology-inspired-grand-challenges. To view the OSTP’s Request for Information and submit a proposal, visit https://federalregister.gov/a/2015-14914.