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 original fundamental researches and transformative industrial technologies in the field of nanoscience and technology. 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. In 2020, the CAS Key Laboratory of Nanophotonic Materials and Devices started construction. Besides, there are Division of Nanotechnology Development, Nanofabrication Laboratory, Intelligent Nano-sensing Laboratory and Theoretical Laboratory.   

Management departments of NCNST consist of General Administration Office, Science and Technology Department, Major R&D Programs Department, Human Resources Department, Finance and Asset Management Department, Education Department, Intellectual Property & Technology Transfer Department, Infrastructure and Service Department. National Technical Committee SAC/TC279 on Nanotechnology of Standardization Administration of China(SAC), National Technical Committee SAC/TC584 on Fine bubble Technology of SAC, National Technical Subcommittee SAC/TC168/SC1 on Particle of SAC, National Standard Verification Point (Nanomaterials), and the Special Professional Committee on Research Laboratory of China National Accreditation Service for Conformity Assessment are affiliated to the NCNST.

The NCNST offers 4 Master's degrees (in chemistry, materials, physics and biology) and 3 Doctoral degrees (in chemistry, materials and physics), and also sets postdoctoral research positions. Notably, nanoscience and engineering was established as a first-level discipline in 2022. Over the past twenty years, NCNST has made a series of important progress in basic research, applied basic research and technical support system, and its scientific and technological competitiveness has been significantly improved.

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 recent years the Nature Index showed that NCNST had been one of the “Top 10 Institutes of CAS”.  The high impact academic journal on nanoscience and nanotechnology, Nanoscale, is co-hosted by the  NCNST and the Royal Society of Chemistry Publishing Group.