President Obama’s National Network for Manufacturing Innovation
President Barack Obama delivers remarks on the economy after touring the Rolls-Royce Crosspoint facility in Prince George County, Va., March 9, 2012. (Official White House Photo by Chuck Kennedy)
Last Friday, in Prince George County, Virginia, the President announced a proposed $1B budget for a new National Network for Manufacturing Innovation. This investment announcement continues to encourage support of the manufacturing sector by promoting insourcing and creating high-tech/high wage jobs in the U.S. – all part of the President’s Blueprint For An Economy Built to Last.
The President is keenly aware of the importance of a strong manufacturing base here in the U.S. In the past two-years, the U.S. manufacturing sector has added more than 400,000 jobs to the economy and is essential to repairing the foundation of an innovative, competitive manufacturing industry. In the past decade, manufacturing investment in the U.S. stalled, providing an ideal climate for the U.S. to lose its footing as the world leader in manufacturing.
The proposed National Network for Manufacturing Innovation will focus on collaboration between academia, government and industry to catalyze manufacturing innovation with shared risk and cost – reaching out particularly to small manufacturers and providing them with cutting edge capabilities, equipment and support to give them a “leg-up” in the global race.
Once again, the President’s plan builds upon the National Center for Manufacturing Sciences’ (NCMS) comprehensive plan to “Transform the way America Builds” by leveraging our 25-year history of successful collaborations between academia, industry and the government to bring technologies out of the exploratory phase and into commercialization, at less cost and less risk than going it alone. The NCMS Predictive Innovation Center (PIC) strategy utilizes this foundation and expands it to take into account the special needs of the nearly 300,000 small and medium sized manufacturers within the U.S. who have been hit especially hard during these economic times.
NCMS applauds the President once more in his support of U.S. Manufacturing and looks forward to working with him to revitalize this proven, crucial foundation for the United States of America.
Because we at NCMS believe that the future is not made, it is Manufactured.
President Barack Obama tours the Rolls-Royce Crosspoint facility in Prince George County, Va., March 9, 2012. President Obama viewed a machine cutting titanium into airplane engine parts used on the Boeing 787 Dreamliner. (Official White House photo by Chuck Kennedy)
