Federal Agencies Identify R&D Priorities for Critical U.S. Manufacturing Areas

Three of the major thrusts for the research investments of many states –  hydrogen energy technologies, nanomanufacturing, and intelligent and integrated manufacturing – are the focus of a new report by a federal Interagency Working Group on Manufacturing R&D. Manufacturing the Future: Federal Priorities for Manufacturing R&D describes the significance of each of the three critical manufacturing R&D areas, details the challenges essential for progress, discusses existing interagency collaborations and provides recommendations for future research.
 
The report provides academic and state policymakers the opportunity to compare how well their research investments in the critical sectors match the needs identified by the federal agencies. As the Interagency Working Group was comprised of 15 departments, agencies and organizations in the federal government, future federal research funding opportunities could be influenced by the report. The group worked under the auspices of the National Science and Technology Council’s Committee on Technology.
 
Further down the commercialization stream, companies with technologies or processes that address or overcome the challenges identified for each manufacturing area most likely will be better positioned competitively, providing a possible focus area for targeted later-stage state and private TBED investments.
 
For example, for hydrogen energy technologies, the report identifies more than two dozen specific research challenges distributed across hydrogen production, hydrogen storage and fuel cell system manufacturing.
 
R&D priorities for nanomanufacturing are divided into three focus areas: infrastructure development and partnerships; integrated product and process design tools and systems; and workforce needs, societal impacts, environmental impact and human health & safety.
 
Intelligent and integrated manufacturing challenges requiring attention and investment were identified across four technical areas:

• Predictive tools for integrated product and process design and optimization;
• Intelligent systems for manufacturing processes and equipment;
• Automated integration of manufacturing software; and,
• Secure manufacturing systems integration.

Technical staff members from the National Institute of Standards and Technology served as chair and executive secretary of the Interagency Working Group and oversaw the drafting of the final report.
 
Manufacturing the Future: Federal Priorities for Manufacturing R&D is available at: http://www.manufacturing.gov/pdf/NSTCIWGMFGRD_March2008_Report.pdf