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This document is a supplement to the President’s 2025 Budget request and serves as the Annual Report for the National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI), called for under the provisions of the 21st Century Nanotechnology Research and Development Act (15 USC §7501). The report also addresses the requirement for Department of Defense reporting on its nanotechnology investments, per 10 USC §2358.
The President’s 2025 Budget requests an all-time record of $2.2 billion for the NNI, with a sustained investment in foundational research that will fuel new discoveries and increasing investments in application-driven R&D to advance technologies of the future and address national priorities. Cumulative NNI funding since its inception in 2001 totals over $45 billion (including the 2025 request). The President’s 2025 Budget supports nanoscale science, engineering, and technology R&D at 12 agencies. See the graph above for funding trends since the inception of the NNI. The NNI Supplement to the President’s 2025 Budget documents progress of the NNI participating agencies in addressing the goals and objectives of the NNI. As called for in the 21st Century Nanotechnology Research and Development Act, the report also reviews current and planned investments of NNI participating agencies by Program Component Area (PCA).
About the cover image (above)
Each year’s NNI Supplement to the President’s Budget features cover images illustrating recent developments in nanotechnology stemming from NNI activities that have the potential to make major contributions to national priorities.
This year’s front cover features a silicon-on-glass platform of nanostructures that form an ultrathin, flat lens that uses precisely designed and fabricated 50 nm nanostructures to manipulate and focus a broad spectrum of light onto a single focal point. Created with electron beam lithography where a beam of electrons draws a pattern on a material surface, this lens is compact and lightweight for optical components in many applications such as mass production of semiconductor components using photolithography. The image was taken by the NanoLight Group at The Pennsylvania State University. The work was partially supported by NSF, NIH, and ONR. For more information see: https://doi.org/10.1515/nanoph-2024-0150.
About the inside back cover (above)
The inside face of the back cover is a collage of images from an NNCO symposium on March 5, 2024, celebrating the 20-year anniversary of the authorization of the NNI. For more information see: https://www.nano.gov/anniversarysymposium.
