National Network of Manufacturing Innovation

http://m.whitehouse.gov/the-press-o...w-efforts-support-manufacturing-innovation-en

... the President will announce a new $1 billion proposal, the National Network for Manufacturing Innovation. The President’s proposal will catalyze a network of up to fifteen Institutes for Manufacturing Innovation around the country. The Institutes will bring together industry, universities and community colleges, federal agencies, and our states to accelerate innovation by investing in industrially-relevant manufacturing technologies with broad applications to bridge the gap between basic research and product development, provide shared assets to help companies – particularly small manufacturers – access cutting-edge capabilities and equipment, and create an unparalleled environment to educate and train students and workers in advanced manufacturing skills. Each Institute will serve as a regional hub of manufacturing excellence, providing the innovation infrastructure to support regional manufacturing hubs and ensuring that our manufacturing sector is a key pillar in an economy that is built to last. This model has been successfully deployed in other countries and represents a gap in the U.S. manufacturing innovation infrastructure that the President’s proposal will address.

The Institutes will each have a well-defined technology focus to address industrially-relevant manufacturing challenges on a large scale and to provide the capabilities and facilities required to reduce the cost and risk of commercializing new technologies. While the Institutes would be competitively selected, several areas of innovation illustrate the opportunities that this proposal could help to realize:

Developing lightweight materials, such as low-cost carbon fiber composites (CFC's), that will improve fuel efficiency, performance, and corrosion resistance of the next generation of automobiles, aircraft, ships and trains.

Refining standards, materials, and equipment for “3-D printingâ€(also known as additive manufacturing) to enable low-cost, small batch production using digital designs that can be transmitted from designers located anywhere.

Creating a smart manufacturing infrastructure and approaches that lets operators make real-time use of “big data†flows from fully-instrumented plants in order to improve productivity, optimize supply chains, and improve energy, water, and materials use.

The new 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, the National Science Foundation, the Department of Defense, and the Department of Energy...

 

In the article it mentions that money for the pilot project comes from existing funds garnered from several departments combined.

 

The article mentions that other countries have something similar. Does anybody know what those are?

Btw, $1B is peanuts compare to the amount we "invested" in Halliburton for the Iraq invasion...

 

http://www.smart-systems-integration.org/public/about/objectives-mission

Here's an EU organization that may serve as an example. They tackle all sorts of topics, including a roadmap for R&D on EV technologies.

http://www.smart-systems-integratio...lications/strategy_paper.pdf/at_download/file

 

At this point there's not enough information about the initiative (or maybe there is out there somewhere that we have not found). But my guess is that such a network of research institutes would aim to create synergy, cross-technology research, shared information among disparate industries and companies, etc. The current situation is that most companies do their R&D in silos, with little or no cross-breeding.

I think it's good and smart they're starting out small, with a $45M pilot project using existing funds, to see how well things work, draw lessons, refine the approach, etc. before going forward. In management school we call this the Effectuation model of building a business (as opposed to the Causation model). This model basically says "see what you can do with what you have available, then go from there", sorta like Iron Chef. U-Haul is a famous example of the Effectuation model.

 

From what I understand, these are existing research institutes, not a new government run department. They will apply for grants to participate in this network.

 

Statement by National Institute of Standards and Technology's Manufacturing Extension Partnership

http://nistmep.blogs.govdelivery.co...ational-network-for-manufacturing-innovation/

President Obama said in his announcement that an economy built to last starts with American manufacturing. The NIST Manufacturing Extension Partnership and all of our 400+ centers across the U.S. wholeheartedly agree. In fact, “we can’t wait†either. It’s what we’ve been doing for years– as a small program with huge impacts for our centers’ manufacturing clients by creating new jobs, increasing sales, and making more investments.

... MEP believes in the innovative capacity of the U.S. manufacturers and supports this effort to strengthen public-private partnerships promoting greater commercialization and manufacturing of U.S. developed technology in America. We are proud of the work this network has done on behalf of small and medium-sized manufacturers making it in America. Here are a few of the ways that these manufacturers have already been fulfilling the goals of the NNMI. Other American manufacturers, and the partners supporting them, can learn a lot from their successes...

 

http://www.athenaalliance.org/weblog/archives/2012/03/manufacturing-innovation-institutes.html

I believe this new networks offers an opportunity to move manufacturing into the knowledge era. The Administration's announcement was couched in terms of new technologies, such as lightweight materials, additive manufacturing and smart manufacturing using "big data." As important as these are, I would suggest that the program can go well beyond technology. For example, one of the Institutes could be devoted to the embedding of design thinking in the product development and production process -- similar to the work done at the Stanford d-school. Another could focus on the fusion of manufacturing and services from both an operational and a business strategy point of view.

The nature of production has changed and our manufacturing policy should as well. The game is no longer "manufacturing" in old sense of the word, but "production" in the broadest sense. And all forms of production are becoming more knowledge intensive. The National Network for Manufacturing Innovation can be a great step forward in fostering a knowledge-intensive U.S. production base. But only by embracing the larger economic shift and thinking boldly about what it means to produce things in America.

 

http://www.ur.umich.edu/update/archives/120312/manufacturing

The announcement reflects work from the Advanced Manufacturing Partnership, on which U-M has been front and center, President Mary Sue Coleman said in a statement following Obama’s announcement.

“I am thrilled that the University of Michigan has been part of the push to place advanced manufacturing on the national agenda. Our own Sridhar Kota has worked with the White House tirelessly on this effort for three years, and the university's commitment increased with our membership in the Advanced Manufacturing Partnership, made up of six prominent universities and a like number of corporations,†Coleman said. “To see this happen so quickly at the federal level confirms for me that manufacturing is essential to our country, not only in the midwest but coast to coast. President Obama's announcement to start now, using immediate funding with a pilot program, will demonstrate the power of the idea to bring together America's best, and to help grow our economy.â€

 

In response to an initiative to promote innovation and competitiveness in manufacturing President Obama is announcing today, ITIF President Rob Atkinson made the following statement:

"Finally, at the very highest levels of government there is recognition that manufacturing matters and an acknowledgement that our public policies have been failing this critical sector. The National Network for Manufacturing Innovation is one of the most important steps this or any Administration has taken in recent years to revitalize American manufacturing and it is urgently needed.

The United States has endured unprecedented erosion in manufacturing. As a share of the economy, we've seen a 32% decline in manufacturing jobs. That is worse than what we experienced in the Great Depression. As ITIF finds in a report to be released on March 21, this employment decline is not, as so many presume, about superior productivity leading to fewer jobs. It is about the loss of U.S. international competitiveness leading to reduced output and fewer jobs. Such a decline was not inevitable and it is recoverable.

We hope the 15 Institutes for National Manufacturing Innovation the President envisions will help harness America's inventive capacity and turn ideas into new products and enhance U.S. competitiveness. Germany, Japan, Korea, and other countries have demonstrated the effectiveness of similar approaches for creating and sustaining dynamic manufacturing sectors while also maintaining high wages and global market share.

The future of manufacturing transcends party identification. We hope this is an initiative that can be implemented as soon as possible."

http://www.itif.org/pressrelease/itif-welcomes-president-obamas-proposal-manufacturing-innovation

 

Building and maintaining a successful innovation system in manufacturing requires a combination of basic research, development and engineering, prototyping, and commercialization. The United States funds and conducts extensive basic research and possesses the manufacturing base to commercialize products, but lacks the development, engineering, and prototyping assets that enables ideas to move from mind to market.

Several of our main global competitors in advanced manufacturing have established innovation centers to bridge this “missing middle.†In Germany, there is an extensive network of Fraunhofer Centers that are funded by industry, universities, and government. In Taiwan, there is the Industrial Technology Research Institute, jointly funded by industry and government. But in the United States, no such national network of innovation centers exists.

http://www.themanufacturinginstitut.../Application-Centers/Application-Centers.aspx