The American National Standards Institute (ANSI), which administers the U.S. Technical Advisory Group (TAG) for ISO Technical Committee (TC) 229, Nanotechnologies, seeks feedback on the use of terms related to advanced materials as part of its newly launched study group, Advanced and Emerging Materials.
Defining terminology for materials innovations is important for a wide range of stakeholders including industry, government agencies, academia, and professional societies. While these terms are commonly used by these stakeholders, their definitions are not always consistent, leading to issues in communication, which in turn can result in barriers to trade and commerce, imprecise innovation indicators, and confusion in the prioritization of research and development efforts.
A study group on advanced and emerging materials within ISO TC 229 was initiated earlier this year and is charged with identifying and clarifying differences between the use of terms related to advanced materials across stakeholder groups. As part of this effort, an outreach survey seeking international stakeholder input has been developed to help clarify these issues.
The concept of advanced materials is becoming of increasing importance to the nanotechnology community. In recent years, a number of nanotechnology-focused professional groups have expanded their scope to include advanced materials. In August 2020, ANSI’s Nanotechnology Standards Panel (ANSI-NSP) held a workshop to explore if lessons learned from developing nanotechnology standards could be utilized for developing standards in advanced materials, and if standards organizations developing nanotechnology standards would consider developing standards for advanced materials.
Regulatory research organizations have also included advanced and emerging materials or technologies within the scope of groups previously focused on nanotechnologies. Over the last year there the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the German ministry have also hosted workshops to look at potential regulatory considerations for advanced materials. One of the results of these consultations was the recent decision by the OECD Working Party on Manufactured Nanomaterials to include advanced materials within their scope.
ANSI seeks comments from subject matter experts, stakeholders, and other interested parties. Please respond to this outreach survey aimed at identifying the scientific, technical, and social views of select terms and definitions related to advanced and emergent materials.