Introduction - Research Progress on Environmental Health and Safety Aspects of Engineered Nanomaterials - page 6

BOX 1-2 Indicators of Progress in Implementation
Enhancing interagency coordination
 Progress toward establishing a mechanism to ensure sufficient management and budgetary authority to
develop and implement an EHS-research strategy among NNI agencies.
 Extent to which [the National Nanotechnology Coordination Office] is annually identifying funding needs
for interagency collaboration on critical high-priority research.
Providing for stakeholder engagement in the research strategy
 Progress toward actively engaging diverse stakeholders in a continuing manner in all aspects of strategy
development, implementation, and revision.
Conducting and communicating the results of research funded through public-private partnerships
 Progress toward establishment of effective public-private partnerships, as measured by such steps as
completion of partnership agreements, issuance of requests for proposal, and establishment of a sound
governance structure.
Managing potential conflicts of interest
 Progress toward achieving a clear separation in management and budgetary authority and accountability
between the functions of developing and promoting applications of nanotechnology and understanding and
assessing its potential health and environmental implications.
 Continued separate tracking and reporting of EHS research activities and funding distinct from those for
other, more basic or application-oriented research.
Source: NRC 2012, p. 183.
 Integration: How well is the research agenda coordinated and integrated with respect to
planning, budgeting, and management, including between government and private organizations?
 Accessibility: How well is information about research plans, budgets, progress, and results
made accessible to agencies, research organizations, and interested stakeholders?
CONTEXT FOR AND APPROACH TO SECOND REPORT
Several developments during and after completion of the first report influenced the committee's
approach to this second report. Notably, the NNI developed and released its own environmental, health,
and safety research strategy (NEHI 2011). That strategy builds on previous NNI EHS research-strategy
documents (NEHI 2006, 2007, 2008) and helps to develop a framework for coordination among federal
agencies and mechanisms to support implementation of the strategy. The committee's original charge to
develop and monitor implementation of a research strategy was written in the absence of the 2011 federal
EHS research strategy. In addition, there have been other government, academic, industrial, and
international efforts, some of which are described in Chapters 2-4 of this report.
Given the short period between the two reports, the committee in this report emphasizes
institutional responses to the first report that have implications for conduct of future research.
However, considering its charge, the committee assesses the trajectory of progress in the research
and implementation indicators identified in the first report while focusing on implementation efforts