According to a news item posed on Nanotechnology Law Report, the White Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) has developed an online interactive program being used to solicit public consultation. From the news item,

The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (“OSTP”) and STCI VenCorps.org. has established the National Nanotechnology Initiative Strategy Portal (“NNI Strategy Portal” or “Portal”), an online interactive program designed to facilitate public responses to specific questions posed by the National Nanotechnology Initiative (“NNI”), a multi-agency Federal research and development initiative created to promote nanotechnology innovation. The NNI will publish the new Strategic Plan in December 2010, outlining priorities and objectives for the next 5-10 years…

It sounds like a fancy way of saying that the public will have the opportunity to comment via an interactive form, much like the current public consultation being held by the European Commission on a definition for nanomaterials (my July 16 ,2010 posting).

Dexter Johnson (Nanoclast) has this to say about the strategy nanoportal,

I was initially skeptical of this proposal to get the input of the public when it was first presented because they made it seem they wanted ideas on new application areas. However, when it became clear that OSTP’s aim was to re-think innovation frameworks I was easily turned around since this has always been the problem area.

…

This latest blog entry from the White House, however, has some interesting little ticks. Most notable to me is that there are these two generations of nanotechnology applications. One is enabled by mere nanomaterials and the other newer generation by something else, which is never quite identified.

Good point and likely one I would have missed.

I did visit the portal site and found that registration is required for participation and was surprised to find that it may be possible to register if you’re from another country. Yes, there’s a pull-down menu listing all kinds of countries, of course, they also ask for a zip code and a state so I’m not sure if an outsider could successfully complete registration.

I do have to offer kudos for attempting to give access since the Canadian nanoportal is, as of today at 11:15 am PST, still password-protected with no means of entry (i.e., a registration process). You can check it out here (click on either the English or the French button, it doesn’t matter which) and here’s my July 9, 2010 posting about this.