ACADEMIA

President Obama announced today his proposal for a new initiative focused on strengthening and ensuring the long-term competitiveness and job-creating power of U.S. manufacturing.

After touring the Rolls-Royce Crosspointe jet engine disc manufacturing facility in Prince George, Va., the President described his proposal to build a network of up to 15 Institutes for Manufacturing Innovation, serving as regional hubs of manufacturing excellence that will help to make our manufacturers more competitive and encourage investment in the United States. The President’s budget for fiscal year 2013 proposes a $1 billion investment to create this new National Network for Manufacturing Innovation.

The President also said his Administration will take immediate steps to launch a pilot institute for manufacturing innovation. The pilot institute will be funded from $45 million of existing resources from the Departments of Defense, Energy, and Commerce and the National Science Foundation, and will be selected from a competitive application process.

The National Network for Manufacturing Innovation will work to leverage new investment from industry, state and local government, and the research community. This initiative will be a collaboration between Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), the National Science Foundation, the Department of Defense, and the Department of Energy.

NIST hosts the newly established, interagency Advanced Manufacturing National Program Office.

For more information on the President’s announcement, go to: http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2012/03/09/president-obama-announce-new-efforts-support-manufacturing-innovation-en