The Congressional report: The National Nanotechnology Initiative: Overview, Reauthorization, and Appropriations Issues is out and describes the US government's efforts to promote nanotechnology. The report indicates that the US is the world leader in nanotechnology, but provides recommendation to maintain and expand this leadership position. Some of these recommendations include (excerpt from document):

• the NNI increase its emphasis on nanomanufacturing and commercial deployment of nanotechnology-enabled products, and that the agencies within the NNI must interact and cooperate more with one another to ease the translation of scientific discovery into commercial activity. In this regard, PCAST made a number of recommendations. Among them:

• double federal funding for nanomanufacturing over five years;
• launch at least five government-industry-university partnerships modeled after the Nanoelectronics Research Initiative;
• for each Nanotechnology Signature Initiative (NSI), develop milestones, promote strong education components, and create public-private partnerships to leverage the outcomes;
• fund at least five NSIs over the next two to three years—including ones in priority areas such as homeland security, national defense, and human health—at annual levels of $20 million to $40 million each;
• tap the Department of Commerce and the Small Business Administration for advice on how the NNI can best ensure its programs create new jobs in the United States, including mechanisms for coordinating with state efforts; and
• for DOE, DOD, NIST, NIH, NCI, and FDA to clarify the development pathway and to make sustained investments to accelerate technology transfer to the marketplace.