Science, Technology & Research

In 2007, more then $60 billion in products incorporating nanotechnology -- devices of microscopic size -- were sold. According to estimates, the amount may grow to $2.6 trillion by 2014. The rapid growth of nanotechnology underscores important ethical and safety concerns associated with the new industry. “The country is still trying to figure out what nanotechnology really is,” said U.S. Senator Ron Wyden, the keynote speaker at an April 2 event at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington. The focal point of the gathering was the preview of Nanotechnology -- The Power of Small, a three-part TV series airing on U.S. public television in April. The Wilson Center event was part of NanoDays 2008, a week focusing on the advances of nanotechnology and as-yet-unanswered questions concerning its application. Scientists see nanotechnology -- building devices of microscopic or even molecular size -- as potentially benefiting medicine, environmental protection, energy and space exploration.

The United States and the Republic of Bulgaria signed a bilateral Science and Technology Cooperation Agreement January 4 during a ceremony at the U.S. Department of State. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice signed on behalf of the United States, and Foreign Minister Ivailo Kalfin signed on behalf of Bulgaria. The new agreement provides a mechanism through which the United States and Bulgaria can broaden cooperation in all science and technology fields, and move forward in areas of collaboration such as marine sciences, energy, space, global stewardship, HIV/AIDS and other health issues, science and technology education, engineering, sustainable development, agriculture, natural resources, human nutrition and food safety.

2008: Increasing U.S. Energy Security and Confronting Climate Change (State of the Union Fact Sheet, Jan 28, 2008) | U.S., Bulgaria Sign Science and Technology Cooperation Agreement (Jan 4, 2008)

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier and EU Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner addressed the U.S.-EU Energy Technology CEO Forum in Washington, D.C. on March 19, 2007. The forum, which was hosted by Secretary Rice, brought together senior American, German and European Union government officials and private sector leaders who focus on energy technology. The purpose of the meeting was to stimulate a discussion between the government and the private sector from each side of the Atlantic to accelerate the innovation and adoption of new energy technology. The forum aimed to provide recommendations and to identify possible initiatives on technology innovation and adoption including energy production, energy storage, transportation, transportation fuels and energy efficiency.

2007: Economic Development Organization Forms Nanotechnology Unit (Jun 5, 2007)

An implementing arrangement intended to expand cooperation between the United States and the European Commission (EC) on environmental research has been signed in Brussels, Belgium, by the EC’s director-general for research, Manuel Silva Rodriguez. The instrument, which had been signed January 31, 2007, in Washington by Stephen Johnson, administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), helps implement a 1998 agreement on scientific and technological cooperation between the United States and the European Union. “The United States and Europe share in the commitment of being good global neighbors,” said EPA’s Johnson.

U.S., EU Expanding Cooperation on Environmental Research (Feb 13, 2007)

Officials from the United States, China, the European Union, India, Japan, the Republic of Korea and the Russian Federation initialed an agreement May 24, 2006, to build ITER, an international fusion energy project. Fusion -- the energy source of the Earth’s sun and other stars -- has the potential to become a long-range option for clean energy, but the use of fusion as a controllable energy source is still in the experimental stages.

2006: U.S., EU, Others Sign International Fusion Energy Agreement (Nov 21, 2006) | U.S., European Environmental Policies Focus on Technology Advances (Oct 23, 2006) (Transcript of Online Discussion) | Commerce's Cresanti Urges Global Approach to Development of RFID Technology (Oct 16, 2006) | U.S.-EU Summit Declaration (Jun 21, 2006) and 2006 U.S.-EU Summit Progress Report on the Economic Initiative | United States, International Partners Initial Fusion Energy Pact (May 24, 2006) | U.S., Poland Sign New Science Cooperation Agreement (Feb 10, 2006)

2005: U.S., EU List Steps To Enhance Economic Integration, Growth (Jun 20, 2005)

2004: United States, United Kingdom Sign Science and Technology Pact (Dec 10, 2004)