Located in the Zhongguancun Science Park , Beijing , it was first established jointly by the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Peking University , Tsinghua University and will be open to the scientific community of China .

NCNST adopts the director responsibility system under the leadership of the governing board, which is responsible for determining discipline orientations and key research areas for the Center. The research direction will focus on four main disciplines of nanotechnology: nano-devices and nano-fabrication; nano-structures and nano-materials; nano-biotechnology and nano-medicine; characterization and measurement of nano-structures. The orientation of NCNST will be the basic and applied researches of nanoscience, with its significant application prospects.