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Obama Administration Outlines Design of National Network for Manufacturing Innovation
This week, the National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) released its plan to implement the national network of manufacturing institutes announced by President Obama last March (see the March 14, 2012 issue of the Digest). The institutes would serve as regional hubs of innovation and help to accelerate the development and adoption of new manufacturing technologies. Under the newly released plan, each of the institutes would be led by U.S. nonprofit organizations, with public, private and academic partners, and receive federal matching funds over a five-to-seven year period.
President Obama's original announcement called for a one-time $1 billion federal investment to create a nationwide network of up to 15 Institutes for Manufacturing Innovation (IMI). Several federal agencies would participate in the effort, including the Departments of Commerce, Defense, Education and Energy, coordinated by the Advanced Manufacturing National Program Office (AMNPO). The individual institutes would help advance technological progress on distinct manufacturing topics bringing together regional stakeholders drawn from government, industry and academia. Their work would not only help U.S. manufacturing overcome technical barriers, but also generate a long-term regional economic impact.
A pilot institute was launched last August in Youngstown, OH, focusing on additive manufacturing and testing the waters for the rollout of the full network (see the August 15, 2012 issue). The National Additive Manufacturing Innovation Institute (NAMII) represents a coalition of more than 80 companies, nine research universities, six community colleges and 18 nonprofits from northeast Ohio, western Pennsylvania and northern West Virginia. The launch of NAMII has been used to inform the design of the full-scale program, along with a series of workshops held around the country since the original announcement.
As described in the new report, IMIs will offer shared-use facilities that in aggregate comprise an “industrial commons,” with the goal of scaling up laboratory demonstrations and maturing technologies for manufacture. Each of the IMIs would receive $70-$120 million in federal matching funds, bringing total capitalization to an estimated $140-$240 million over five-to-seven years. After the initial five-to-seven years of federal support, these institutes are expected to become self-sustaining through the launch of income-generating activities, such as intellectual property licensing and contract research.
Each IMI will be led by independent, nonprofit institutions that are able to bring together regional public, private and academic partners. The leadership of these institutes will collaborate formally through a Network Leadership Council made up of representatives from the IMIs and federal agencies.