National Center for Nanoscience and Technology, China (NCNST), established in December 2003, is co-founded by the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and the Ministry of Education as an institution dedicated to fundamental and applied researches in the field of nanoscience and technology, especially those with important potential applications. NCNST is operated under the supervision of the Governing Board and aims to become a world-class research center, as well as public technological platform and young talents training center in the field, and to act as an important bridge for international academic exchange and collaboration.

The NCNST currently has three CAS Key Laboratories: the CAS Key Laboratory for Biological Effects of Nanomaterials & Nanosafety, the CAS Key Laboratory for Standardization & Measurement for Nanotechnology and the CAS Key Laboratory for Nanosystem and Hierarchical Fabrication. Besides, there are Division of Nanotechnology Development, Nano Processing Laboratory and Theoretical Laboratory. The NCNST has co-founded 19 collaborative laboratories with Tsinghua University, Peking University, and Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Management departments of NCNST consist of General Administration Office, Science and Technology Management, Human Resource Management, Education department, S&T development and promotion Management, Finance Management, Administration Management and Assets Equipment Management. The National Technical Committee 279 of Standardization Administration of China (SAC/TC279) on Nanotechnology, the Special Committee on Nanotechnology of China National Accreditation Service for Conformity Assessment, the Chinese Society of Nanoscience and Technology, and Secretariat of National Steering Committee for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology are affiliated to the Center. The high impact academic journal on nanoscience and nanotechnology, Nanoscale, is co-hosted by the Center and the Royal Society of Chemistry Publishing Group.

The NCNST has doctor and postdoctoral education programs in condensed matter physics, physical chemistry, materials science, nanoscience and technology. In 2014 the International Evaluation Committee highly applauded the significant achievements and outstanding contributions in nanoscience, and remarked that NCNST had risen to a position of “by far the best in China”. In 2018 the Nature Index showed that NCNST had been one of the “Top 5 Institute of CAS”. According to the latest data of Clarivate Analytics in 2018, five researchers in NCNST was included in the "Highly-Cited Researchers” around the world in recent 10 years, a total of 216 highly cited papers.

In November 2013, the NCNST initiated one of the Strategic Priority Research Program of CAS, entitled "Industrial Nanomanufacturing Focus". The innovation teams from 25 institutes of CAS joined forces to focus on the main R&D targets of the nanotechnology-related new product development and nanosystems integration, which will finally raise the technical level of the traditional industry. In December 2018, the program "Industrial Nanomanufacturing Focus " has passed the test.

In October 2015, the CAS set up the "Center for Excellence in Nanoscience" (CAS-CENano) to speed up the establishment of a new model for scientific research. The CAS-CENano's tasks are to accumulate innovative talent, focus on the fore frontier of nanoscience, achieve a major breakthrough and become an internationally renowned organization.