Outreach is an important component of the NNI. One mechanism by which outreach is accomplished is through the National Nanotechnology Coordinating Office (NNCO), which serves as the point of contact on federal nanotechnology activities for government organizations, academia, industry, professional societies, foreign organizations, and others. An example of the mechanisms by which the NNCO communicates with interested parties is through its website (www.nano.gov).

Outreach activities aimed at state and local organizations are also an integral part of the NNI. Examples of states with state-funded nanotechnology programs in 2002 are New York, California, Illinois, Indiana, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia and South Carolina. Other state programs, not specifically focused on nanotechnology, are also involved. For instance, Nanoscale Materials, Inc. was the first tenant in Kansas State Universitys K-State Research Park. The Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR) supports development of research infrastructure in less research-intensive states. For example, the state of Oklahoma has created the NanoNet, a network of Oklahoma scientists, engineers and students involved in developing three key types of systems: epitaxial nanostructures, colloidal particles, and connectors.

Outreach to a broad cross-section of industry is another objective of the NNI. For exam-ple, the NSET Subcommittee, with DOCТ’s Office of International Technology Policy and Pro-grams, is organizing a series of four regional workshops with the goals of increasing industry awareness of pending nanotechnology developments and addressing scientific and technical deficiencies that are limiting industrial commer-cialization of nanotechnology. The first workshop (western region) was held on Sept 10, 2001 at UCLA. The second (southern region) was held in Houston, Texas on May 23, 2002. Additional meetings are to be held in the midwestern and eastern regions.

Through the NNCO, as well as the participating agencies, the NNI maintains close ties with professional societies, as a valuable means of disseminating information on current activities, promoting education for nanoscale science and technology, and as a source for insight on opportunities for future research. In addition, the considerable worldwide investment in nanotechnology requires active outreach by the U.S. program to activities in other countries to collaborate with and learn from research being conducted abroad.