A Fundamental Review of the Relationships between Nanotechnology and Lignocellulosic Biomass - The Nanoscience and Technology of Renewable Biomaterials - page 17

• enhancement of national and international nanometrology infrastructure supporting

commercial manufacture of advanced products;

• standardization of measurement techniques, nomenclature, and testing methodologies

to facilitate assurance of safety and efficacy of nanoproducts, and their effective reg-
ulation and production;

• development and verification of advanced simulation, visualization, and data analysis

techniques and supporting standards for biological materials;

• development of nomenclature to define the growing number of nanostructures that

is succinctly, precisely, and compatibly related to that of conventional molecular
nomenclature.

1.10 A Nanotechnology Agenda for the Forest Products Industry

In its first step toward reaching the goals of applying nanotechnology in the forest
products industry, a workshop to develop a vision, explore opportunities, and determine
research needs was convened in October 2004. The American Forest and Paper Asso-
ciation's (AF&PA) Agenda 2020 Technology Alliance, the Technical Association of the
Pulp and Paper Industry, US Department of Energy (DOE) and the US Department of
Agriculture (USDA), Forest Service sponsored the conference. AF&PA Agenda 2020 is
a special project of the American Forest and Paper Association, the national trade asso-
ciation of the forest products industry. It is an industry-led partnership with government
agencies and departments such as the USDA Forest Service, DOE, the National Science
Foundation, the National Institute for Standards and Technology, etc. and academia.
The overall goal of the AF&PA Agenda 2020 Technology Alliance is to create options
to meet industry's competitive challenges while contributing solutions to strategic
national needs associated with energy, the environment, and the economy by addressing
shared industry and national strategic goals; developing research, development and
deployment (RD&D) initiatives; provide the foundation for new technology-driven
business models; and leverage collaborative partnerships to drive innovation in the
forest products industry's processes, materials, and markets. It is vitally important
to remember that close collaboration with the forest products industry is critical for
advancing nanotechnology. This is because the range and magnitude of benefits offered
by nanotechnology science and engineering research and development can only be
realized if the technologies are accepted and implemented (i.e. deployed) by the

industry.
Over 110 leading researchers with diverse expertise from industry, government lab-
oratories, and academic institutions from North America and Europe attended the nan-
otechnology for the forest products industry workshop. Coming out of this workshop
was a document entitled Nanotechnology for the Forest Products Industry-Vision and
Technology Roadmap (Atalla et al . 2005). The stated vision for nanotechnology for the
forest products industry is as follows:

To sustainably meet the needs of present and future generations for wood-based materials and
products by applying nanotechnology science and engineering to efficiently and effectively
capture the entire range of values that lignocellulosic materials are capable of providing.