Manufacturing USA: National Network for Manufacturing Innovation
The National Network for Manufacturing Innovation has a public name: Manufacturing USA. Over the past several years of the program, nine manufacturing innovation institutes have been established or announced, with six more planned by 2017. These manufacturing institutes are public-private partnerships that each have distinct technology focus areas but work towards a common goal: to secure America’s future through manufacturing innovation, education, and collaboration.
Through Manufacturing USA, industry, academia, and government partners are leveraging existing resources, collaborating, and co-investing to nurture manufacturing innovation and accelerate commercialization. Each institute is designed to be a public-private membership organization that provides vision, leadership, and resources to its members.
Manufacturing USA connects people, ideas, and technology to solve industry-relevant advanced manufacturing challenges. Its goals are to enhance industrial competitiveness, increase economic growth, and strengthen U.S. national security. Reaching across industries, Manufacturing USA brings members of the manufacturing community together to overcome technical hurdles and to enable innovative new products. It seeks to restore American preeminence in manufacturing by addressing shared manufacturing technology and workforce challenges.
Manufacturing USA institutes focus on moving promising, early-stage research into proven capabilities ready for adoption by U.S. manufacturers. Their diverse membership includes small, mid-sized, and large manufacturers, as well as researchers from universities and government laboratories. The institutes provide members with access to state-of-the-art facilities and equipment, as well as workforce training and skills development customized to support new technology areas. Collaboration at institutes, and now through the network, creates an innovation community ushering in the next generation manufacturing supply chains located in America and employing Americans.
The Manufacturing USA network is operated by the interagency Advanced Manufacturing National Program Office, which is headquartered in the National Institute of Standards and Technology, in the Department of Commerce. The office is staffed by representatives from federal agencies with manufacturing-related missions as well as fellows from manufacturing companies and universities.
The office operates in partnership with the Department of Defense, the Department of Energy, NASA, the National Science Foundation, the Department of Education and the Department of Agriculture. The office began as a pilot, recommended by the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, but the overarching mission has not changed:
By coordinating federal resources and programs, the Advanced Manufacturing National Program Office enhances technology transfer in U.S. manufacturing industries and helps companies overcome technical obstacles to scale up of new technologies and products.
History
In June 2011, U.S. President Barack Obama launched the Advanced Manufacturing Partnership (AMP) on the recommendation of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) in a report issued that same month. The partnership was led by Dow Chemical Company President, Chairman, and CEO Andrew Liveris, and MIT President Susan Hockfield. AMP was charged with identifying collaborative opportunities between industry, academia and government that will catalyze development and investment in emerging technologies, policies and partnerships with the potential to transform and reinvigorate advanced manufacturing in the United States. Its first set of recommendations, “Report to the President on Capturing Domestic Competitive Advantage in Advanced Manufacturing,” was issued in July 2012.
Subsequently, after a nationwide outreach and engagement effort, the White House National Science and Technology Council and the AMNPO issued “The National Network for Manufacturing Innovation: A Preliminary Design,” in January 2013.
In September 2013, the President launched the Advanced Manufacturing Partnership Steering Committee 2.0 (AMP 2.0). AMP 2.0 focused oa a renewed, cross-sector, national effort to secure U.S. leadership in the emerging technologies that will create high-quality manufacturing jobs and enhance America’s global competitiveness. The steering committee, whose members are among the nation’s leaders in industry, academia, and labor, was a working group of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology. Its final report on accelerating U.S. advanced manufacturing was issued in October 2014.
In his 2013 and 2014 State of the Union Addresses, the President called for the creation of a Nationwide Network for Manufacturing Innovation (now known as Manufacturing USA) to scale up advanced manufacturing technologies and processes. He asked Congress to authorize investment—to be matched by private and non-federal funds to create an initial network of up to 15 institutes. Over 10 years, he proposed that the Manufacturing USA network encompass 45 institutes.
On December 16, 2014, the President signed the Revitalize American Manufacturing and Innovation Act into law, which gave Congressional authorization to the AMNPO and authorized the Department of Commerce to hold “open-topic” competitions for manufacturing innovation institutes where those topics of highest importance to industry could be proposed.
In addition to the Manufacturing USA, there are a number of advanced manufacturing innovation initiatives aimed at increasing the competitiveness of the United States in advanced manufacturing. These programs support, supplement and integrate with the Manufacturing USA to maximize their combined benefits.
Advanced Manufacturing Technology Consortia (AMTech)
Launched in 2013, AMTech is a competitive grants program intended to establish new or strengthen existing industry-driven consortia that address high-priority research challenges impeding the growth of advanced manufacturing in the United States. The AMTech program funds broad participation across the value-chain including companies of all sizes, universities and government agencies. It is modeled on successful national efforts within various industry and technology sectors.
Through the competitive planning grants it offers, AMTech incentivizes the formation and strengthening of industry-driven technology consortia in areas of national importance in advanced manufacturing. Activities supported by Planning Awards include detailed technology roadmaps of critical advanced manufacturing technologies and associated long-term industrial research challenges.
In FY2016 AMTech was merged into the National Network for Manufacturing Innovation. No changes have been made to program operations regarding prior awards, and there were no current plans to hold a future AMTech competition.
MForesight: The Alliance for Manufacturing Foresight
The Report to the President Accellerating U.S. Advanced Manufacturing, produced by the Steering Committee of the Advanced Manufacturing Partnership 2.0 (AMP 2.0) in October 2014 for the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST), calls for the creation of a mechanism to provide coordinated private-sector input on national advanced manufacturing technology research and development priorities. MForesight was established to implement that recommendation. It informs and promotes regular and sustained communication and research coordination across the public and private sectors, provides federal decision-makers with timely access to top university and industry experts and responds quickly to requests from federal decision-makers for detailed input on nascent opportunities and priorities in manufacturing. These activities are designed to improve the coordination of federal advanced manufacturing technology and research and development strategies. The Consortium cooperates with the Advanced Manufacturing National Program Office (AMNPO) of NIST, the President’s National Science and Technology Council (NSTC), and the U.S. Government Agencies that support advanced manufacturing to help provide the timely information needed to achieve that coordination. NSF is the program lead and is solely responsible for the solicitation and the resulting award. NIST, acting on behalf of the Advanced Manufacturing National Program Office, is the program co-sponsor with NSF and provides financial and administrative support to NSF.
Hollings Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP)
Since 1988, the Hollings Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) has been committed to strengthening U.S. manufacturing, continually evolving to meet the changing needs of manufacturers. Through its services and partnerships it has had a profound impact on the growth of well-paying jobs, the development of dynamic manufacturing communities, and the enhancement of American innovation and global competitiveness.
MEP’s strength is in its partnerships. Through its collaborations at the federal, state and local level, MEP puts manufacturers in position to develop new products and customers, expand into global markets, adopt new technology, reshore production, and more. And because of its direct contact with manufacturers, MEP serves as a valuable bridge to other organizations that share a passion for enhancing the manufacturing community.
MEP’s strategic objective is to create value for all manufacturers, with a particular focus on small and mid-sized enterprises (SMEs). SMEs represent nearly 99% of manufacturing firms in the U.S. and form the essential fabric of the U.S. manufacturing infrastructure. MEP is able to provide this support to individual manufacturers through its nationwide network of local centers made up of teams of experts and business professionals.
As a public/private partnership, MEP delivers a high return on investment to taxpayers. For every dollar of federal investment, MEP clients generate nearly $19 in new sales, which translates into $2.5 billion annually. And for every $2,001 of federal investment, MEP creates or retains one U.S. manufacturing job. Since 1988, MEP has worked with nearly 80,000 manufacturers, leading to $88 billion in sales and $14 billion in cost savings, and it has helped create more than 729,000 jobs.
After nearly 30 years, MEP continues to innovate, meeting the challenge of developing new programs, services, and partnerships to help manufacturers flourish in the 21st century. MEP is a part of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), a U.S. Department of Commerce agency.
Investing in Manufacturing Communities Partnership
The Investing in Manufacturing Communities Partnership (IMCP) program is an initiative designed to revolutionize the way federal agencies leverage economic development funds. It encourages communities to develop comprehensive economic development strategies that will strengthen their competitive edge for attracting global manufacturer and supply chain investments. Through IMCP, the federal government is rewarding best practices – coordinating federal aid to support communities’ strong development plans and synchronizing grant programs across multiple departments and agencies. Non-designated communities nationwide can learn from the best practices employed by these designated communities to strengthen American manufacturing.
The Investing in Manufacturing Communities Partnership (IMCP) is a government-wide initiative to help communities cultivate an environment for businesses implemented in 2013 to create well-paying manufacturing jobs in regions across the country and thereby accelerate the resurgence of manufacturing.
The IMCP is designed to reward communities that demonstrate best practices in attracting and expanding manufacturing by bringing together key local stakeholders and using long-term planning that integrates targeted public and private investments across a community’s industrial ecosystem to create broad-based prosperity.
Up to 12 communities will be designated as Manufacturing Communities for a period of two years. After two years, communities will be invited to apply to renew their designation as Manufacturing Communities; they will be evaluated based on: (a) performance against the terms of the designation and post-designation awards received (if any); and (b) progress against project-specific metrics as proposed by communities in their applications, designed to also help communities track their own progress.
To earn the initial designation, communities had to demonstrate the strength of an existing manufacturing industry in their region/community and develop strategies to make investments in six areas: workforce and training; (2) research and innovation; (3) infrastructure and site development; (4) supply chain support; (5) trade and international investment; and (6) operational improvement and capital access.
IMCP Participating Agencies have agreed to provide preferential consideration, and/or consideration in the determination of application merit, and/or grant supplemental awards (totaling approximately $1.3 billion) for Manufacturing Communities for the following 18 economic development programs:
Materials Genome Initiative
The Materials Genome Initiative (MGI) is a multi-agency initiative designed to create a new era of policy, resources, and infrastructure that support U.S. institutions in the effort to discover, manufacture, and deploy advanced materials twice as fast, at a fraction of the cost.
Advanced materials are essential to economic security and human well being, with applications in industries aimed at addressing challenges in clean energy, national security, and human welfare, yet it can take 20 or more years to move a material after initial discovery to the market. Accelerating the pace of discovery and deployment of advanced material systems will therefore be crucial to achieving global competitiveness in the 21st century.
Since the launch of MGI in 2011, the Federal government has invested over $250 million in new R&D and innovation infrastructure to anchor the use of advanced materials in existing and emerging industrial sectors in the United States.
National Export Initiative/NEXT
Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker announced in May 2014 that the Obama Administration will build on the success of the National Export Initiative (NEI) by launching NEI/NEXT: a new customer service-driven strategy with improved information resources that will ensure American businesses are fully able to capitalize on expanded opportunities to sell their goods and services abroad.
NEI/NEXT will help more American companies reach more overseas markets by improving data, providing information on specific export opportunities, working more closely with financing organizations and service providers, and partnering with states and communities to empower local export efforts.
NEI/NEXT will be implemented through the Export Promotion Cabinet and Trade Promotion Coordinating Committee (TPCC), which consists of representatives from 20 federal departments and agencies with export-related programs. The Secretary of Commerce chairs the TPCC.
National Nanotechnology Initiative
The National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI) is a U.S. Government research and development (R&D) initiative involving the nanotechnology-related activities of 20 departments and independent agencies. The United States set the pace for nanotechnology innovation worldwide with the advent of the NNI in 2000. The NNI today consists of the individual and cooperative nanotechnology-related activities of Federal agencies with a range of research and regulatory roles and responsibilities. Funding support for nanotechnology R&D stems directly from NNI member agencies, not the NNI. As an interagency effort, the NNI informs and influences the Federal budget and planning processes through its member agencies and through the National Science and Technology Council (NSTC). The NNI brings together the expertise needed to advance this broad and complex field—creating a framework for shared goals, priorities, and strategies that helps each participating Federal agency leverage the resources of all participating agencies. With the support of the NNI, nanotechnology R&D is taking place in academic, government, and industry laboratories across the United States.
Manufacturing USA
About the Initiative: In the President’s 2013 and 2014 State of the Union Addresses, he called for the creation of a Nationwide Network for Manufacturing Innovation, now known as Manufacturing USA, to scale up advanced manufacturing technologies and processes. He asked Congress to authorize investment—to be matched by private and non-federal funds—to create an initial network of up to 15 institutes. Over 10 years, he proposed that the Manufacturing USA encompass 45 institutes. On December 16, 2014, the President signed the Revitalize American Manufacturing Act, into law.
Manufacturing USA consists of linked Institutes for Manufacturing Innovation (IMIs) with common goals, but unique concentrations. Here industry, academia, and government partners are leveraging existing resources, collaborating, and co-investing to nurture manufacturing innovation and accelerate commercialization.
The Manufacturing USA program is managed by the interagency Advanced Manufacturing National Program Office (AMNPO). Participating agencies include the Department of Defense, Department of Energy, Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standard and Technology (NIST), NASA, the National Science Foundation, Department of Agriculture, Department of Education, and other agencies.
National Robotics Initiative
The goal of the National Robotics Initiative is to accelerate the development and use of robots in the United States that work beside or cooperatively with people. Innovative robotics research and applications emphasizing the realization of such co-robots working in symbiotic relationships with human partners is supported by multiple agencies of the federal government including the National Science Foundation (NSF), the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), and the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD). The purpose of this program is the development of this next generation of robotics, to advance the capability and usability of such systems and artifacts, and to encourage existing and new communities to focus on innovative application areas. It will address the entire life cycle from fundamental research and development to manufacturing and deployment. Questions concerning a particular project’s focus, direction and relevance to a participating funding organization should be addressed to that agency’s point of contact listed in section VIII of this solicitation.
SelectUSA
Recognizing that the competitiveness and job-generating ability of a nation is determined by its desirability as a place for businesses to operate, SelectUSA was created at the federal level to showcase the United States as the world’s premier business location and to provide easy access to federal-level programs and services related to business investment. SelectUSA is designed to complement the activities of states—the primary drivers of economic development in the United States.
SelectUSA is housed within the U.S. Department of Commerce, which maintains a network of personnel throughout the United States and in nearly 80 countries, and is led by an Executive Director, appointed by the Secretary of Commerce.
SelectUSA is a convening authority of the Federal Interagency Investment Working Group and responds to specific federal-level concerns impacting the attraction and retention of business investment. The Obama Administration is committed to enhancing U.S. efforts to win the growing global competition for business investment by leveraging our resources and advantages as the premier business location in the world.
Sustainable Manufacturing Clearinghouse
About the Initiative: The Sustainable Manufacturing Clearinghouse is an archived database which was created to provide U.S. companies with a central portal for information on programs and resources that can assist in enhancing competitiveness and profitability in environmentally sustainable ways.
The Sustainable Business Clearinghouse was originally developed by the U.S. Department of Commerce, with about 800 federal, state, and non-governmental resources. They include: case studies, compliance assistance, financial assistance, general information, how-to guides, metrics/assessment tools, research, tax incentives, technical assistance, training opportunities, and voluntary or partnership programs.
(Link: https://www.manufacturing.gov/nnmi/)
Partners
The interagency Advanced Manufacturing National Program Office (AMNPO) helps to coordinate the efforts of all federal agencies involved in advanced manufacturing. First recommended by the Advanced Manufacturing Partnership (AMP), a steering committee under the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) comprised of national leaders from industry and academia, the office was established in 2012 by the Secretary of Commerce and the Director of the National Economic Council. The AMNPO provides both a key convening body for requesting and accepting multi-sector input as well as a platform for communication, collaboration, and coordination among the federal agencies participating in Manufacturing USA. The following agencies and offices participate in the Manufacturing USA Program:
The National Economic Council (NEC) was established in 1993 to advise the President on U.S. and global economic policy. It resides within the Office of Policy Development and is part of the Executive Office of the President. The NEC has four principal functions: to coordinate policy-making for domestic and international economic issues, to coordinate economic policy advice for the President, to ensure that policy decisions and programs are consistent with the President’s economic goals, and to monitor implementation of the President’s economic policy agenda. More information is available at www.whitehouse.gov/administration/eop/nec.
The Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) was established by the National Science and Technology Policy, Organization, and Priorities Act of 1976. OSTP’s responsibilities include advising the President in policy formulation and budget development on questions in which science and technology are important elements; articulating the President’s science and technology policy and programs; and fostering strong partnerships among federal, state, and local governments, and the scientific communities in industry and academia. The Director of OSTP also serves as Assistant to the President for Science and Technology and manages the National Science and Technology Council (NSTC). More information is available at www.ostp.gov.
The National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) is the principal means by which the Executive Branch coordinates science and technology policy across the federal research and development enterprise. A primary objective of the NSTC is establishing clear national goals for federal science and technology investments. The NSTC prepares research and development strategies that are coordinated across federal agencies to form investment packages aimed at accomplishing multiple national goals. The work of the NSTC is organized under committees that oversee subcommittees and working groups focused on different aspects of science and technology.
The NSTC Subcommittee on Advanced Manufacturing (SAM) serves as a forum for information-sharing, coordination, and consensus-building among participating agencies regarding federal policy, programs, and budget guidance for advanced manufacturing. Originally chartered in 2012, the Subcommittee seeks to identify: gaps in federal advanced manufacturing research and development portfolio and policies, programs and policies that support technology commercialization, methods of improving business climate, and opportunities for public-private collaboration. Regarding advanced manufacturing programs conducted by the Federal Government, the Subcommittee engages in the identification and integration of multi-agency technical requirements, joint program planning and coordination, and development of joint strategies or multi-agency joint solicitations.
The Advanced Manufacturing National Program Office is hosted by the Department of Commerce at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), the AMNPO is an interagency team with participation from federal agencies involved in advanced manufacturing. Principal participant agencies currently include the Departments of Commerce, Defense, Education, and Energy, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and the National Science Foundation. Established in 2012, the AMNPO reports to the Executive Office of the President and operates under the NSTC on cross-agency initiatives. The office reports to the Secretary of Commerce in its role as the “the National Office of the Network for Manufacturing Innovation Program,” also referred to as the “National Program Office,” as described by the Revitalize American Manufacturing and Innovation Act of 2014. More information is available at www.manufacturing.gov.
Department of Commerce has as part of its mission to support innovation, manufacturing, exports, and foreign direct investment, the Department of Commerce (DOC) supports the work of the Manufacturing USA Program by establishing industry-led Manufacturing Innovation Institutes. The Department hosts the AMNPO, an interagency team with participation from federal agencies that oversees the planning, management, and coordination of the Manufacturing USA Program.
Innovation results from initial advances that lead to additional technology and process improvements, with resulting benefits accruing to industry, the economy, and society as a whole. Innovation in advanced manufacturing begins with the generation of new ideas that are refined and matured through applied research, development, and invention. Manufacturers then scale those ideas for mass production in order to generate process improvements and make new products. The experience and knowledge gained through manufacturing then leads to new ideas that start the cycle again. The Department has central responsibility for supporting and expanding each part of this cycle and has the relationships with businesses necessary to identify the workforce skills needed to support new and growing industries.
The Department increases regional and national capacity for innovative manufacturing through partnerships with state and local governments, academic institutions, and the private sector. Through the Department’s convening power, regional economic development programs, and statistical and economic analysis, it empowers industry-driven solutions to the shortage of high demand skills. Finally, the Department supports research and development leading to transformative changes in technology and promotes intellectual property policy that supports and protects innovation. By supporting public-private partnerships, such as the Manufacturing USA, the Department helps to accelerate technology development and commercialization, and strengthen the Nation’s position in the global competition for new products, new markets, and new jobs.
National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is the only research laboratory in the U.S. government specifically focused on enhancing industrial competitiveness, including a robust research portfolio concentrated on the technical challenges associated with advanced manufacturing. In addition, the NIST Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) is a critical resource to engage small and mid-size manufacturers to develop new products, expand into global markets, and adopt new technologies, such as those in development in the Institutes.
The Department of Defense (DoD) requires a mechanism for shaping and developing the domestic design and manufacturing industrial base in support of national security needs. The Manufacturing Technology (ManTech) Program was established in 1956 to advance the maturity of manufacturing processes in order to bridge the gap from research and development to full-scale production and aid in the economical and timely acquisition of weapon systems and components. New emerging technologies hold strategic promise for the DoD, but fragmented and frail ecosystems are at risk of collapse due to infrastructure and workforce complexities. An ecosystem established for DoD requirements only is insufficient to establish a robust and sustainable ecosystem. Instead, advanced manufacturing ecosystems must be built on common commercial and defense manufacturing and design challenges for shared risks and shared benefits.
The DoD Manufacturing Innovation Institutes, a key investment strategy for the DoD and ManTech program, are designed to overcome many of these challenges by advancing manufacturing innovation for specific, focused technology area manufacturing ecosystems. The DoD has established six institutes and has two more planned for Fiscal Year 2017. The five institutes, America Makes, the National Additive Manufacturing Innovation Institute; the Digital Manufacturing and Design Innovation Institute (DMDII); Lightweight Innovations For Tomorrow (LIFT),at the time called the Lightweight and Modern Metals Manufacturing Innovation Insti