Good ideas—for new products, new processes, or new services—are terrible things to waste. Yet time and time again, inventions and discoveries that first sprouted in the United States have taken root in the factories and economies of other nations.
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Think of computer-controlled machine tools, solar cells, industrial robots, consumer-electronics devices, and lithium-ion batteries. For many this list is painfully familiar and the costs are, too: lost jobs, shuttered manufacturing plants, withering supply chains, trade deficits, lost opportunities for spinoff technologies, and more.
The outlook improves
But a far better story for U.S. manufacturing is beginning to take shape. During the past five years, U.S. manufacturers have added an average of nearly 15,000 new jobs every month, and exports have grown at an average annual rate of 10 percent—more than three times faster than the average for the preceding decade.
U.S. industry and the federal government are now taking deliberate strides to seize and maintain an innovation advantage in the fiercely competitive global economy. One key step is establishing the National Network for Manufacturing Innovation (NNMI), which was accomplished by including the bipartisan Revitalize American Manufacturing and Innovation Act of 2014 into the government funding bill passed by Congress in December 2014.
This partnership, consisting of regional hubs of manufacturing innovation, is devoted to the economy-growing principle that if a technology is invented in the United States, we should do our best to manufacture it here. The NNMI institutes will leverage the individual and collective knowledge, talents, capabilities, and resources of industry, university, and government partners. These collaborations will cultivate promising discoveries and ideas into new technologies and cost-effective ways to convert these innovations into American-made products sold to customers around the world.
No time to waste
However, there’s no time to waste because the global competition has a head start. China, Korea, Germany, Taiwan, and other nations intent on building innovation-driven economies have already mounted major programs along with the supporting infrastructure to sustain long-term collaborations—the kind required to speed research breakthroughs into proofs of concept, then prototypes, and, ultimately, manufacturable products and related services.
In today’s most advanced manufacturing industries—the ones that make the highest-value goods, pay the highest wages, and export all over the world—product and process innovation are two sides of the same coin. Inventing, designing, manufacturing, and improving happen in concert. This back-and-forth interaction draws on the strengths of varied organizations, many clustered in the same region. Solo acts can no longer outperform the competition.
So, the NNMI is assembling the diverse competitive assets—the people, organizations, and resources—necessary for the United States to stay at the head of the pack in the global race to innovate. We have all the essential ingredients: universities and government labs that excel at basic science and technology research, top-flight original equipment manufacturers, capable suppliers, enterprising start-ups, and a new generation of workers ready to master the skills and knowledge needed for next-generation manufacturing. Each institute provides a shared-use facility for workforce training for veterans, students, and others.
Funded by the Department of Defense or the Department of Energy, eight NNMI institutes have been launched by President Obama since 2012 and now are in various stages of development. The first, America Makes, is turning additive manufacturing technology (3D printing) into a more robust, reliable, and widely useful capability for companies of all sizes. About 125 organizations, including community colleges and small manufacturers, are members of America Makes, headquartered in Youngstown, Ohio.
Next to open its doors are the Digital Manufacturing and Design Innovation Institute (Chicago), Lightweight Innovations for Tomorrow (Detroit), and PowerAmerica (Raleigh, North Carolina). In January, the president announced that the University of Tennessee at Knoxville will lead a public-private consortium of 122 U.S. manufacturers, nonprofits, and universities in launching the Institute for Advanced Composites Manufacturing Innovation.
In the wings are institutes that will focus on photonics, hybrid electronics, and smart manufacturing—all aiming to accelerate the transfer of laboratory research to the factory floor and to prepare prospective workers with the skills and knowledge required for advanced manufacturing jobs.
In his proposed 2016 budget, President Obama has called for an expansion of NNMI. He has requested $350 million spread across four federal departments: Commerce, Energy, Defense, and Agriculture. Seven new institutes would be launched, including the first two Commerce Dept.-led institutes, under the management of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).
Existing and future innovation institutes will form an integrated, nationwide network that coordinates and leverages individual and collective strengths. This innovation ecosystem will create the collaborative infrastructure that we are sorely missing and the necessary mass of intellectual might and technology resources needed for our nation to competitively succeed in innovating, producing, and building future prosperity.
First published Feb. 18, 2015, on Commerce.GOV.
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