Science and Technology Vice Minister Deng Nan announced at a conference on Thursday that the government has defined medium- and long-term nanotechnology research goals in its national science and technology plan for 2006 to 2020.

She did not enumerate the specific objectives.

"In the national plan, which we are now mapping, we have made a decision to mobilize national research forces to reach some breakthroughs,” said Deng. The conference was held in connection with establishing a national committee on nanotechnology accreditation.

The new committee, a branch of the China National Accreditation Board for Laboratories, is responsible for laboratory accreditation of nanotech research and products.

In its broad sense, nanotechnology refers to activities at the level of atoms and molecules that have applications in the real world. These activities include precision engineering, electronics and electromechanical systems, as well as diverse biomedical applications such as gene therapy and drug delivery.

A nanometer is a billionth of a meter, or about 1/80,000 of the diameter of a human hair.

Also on Thursday, the National Center for Nanotechnology recruited four leading researchers, including Jiang Lei of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), as chief scientists. The center was founded last year with a multimillion-dollar investment from the government.

Since 1999, China has made nanotech a top priority and investment has soared.

Beijing Vice Mayor Fan Boyuan said the capital city will invest further and give preferential treatment to companies engaged in nanotechnology R&D, pointing out that previous investment has laid a solid foundation, and Beijing has taken the nation's technological lead in areas such as nanobiology, nanomedicine and nanoelectronics.

He added, "We are now pushing the development of nanotechnology into a new phase: obtaining the independent intellectual property rights to core technologies in the gradual process of commercializing applications."

The local government intends to accelerate the development of nanotech applications to industries such as construction materials, textiles and garments, automotive products, environmental protection, energy and utilities.

"We will try to help companies in the nanotech sector to improve the orientation of their advanced technologies directly toward both domestic and overseas market demand," said Fan.

(China Daily May 21, 2004)