Information-White House Announces Next Steps in Manufacturing Innovation; November 6, 2014

The White House has unveiled new initiatives as part of its continuing effort to support manufacturing innovation. As part of the effort, the Departments of Defense, Energy, and Agriculture and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) announced more than $300 million in investments in three technologies the President’s Advanced Manufacturing Partnership (AMP) has identified as critical to U.S. competitiveness: advanced materials including composites and bio-based materials, advanced sensors for manufacturing, and digital manufacturing. In another initiative, The National Science Foundation, the Department of Energy, and NASA are planning to connect industry and universities on research and development by developing ‘technology testbeds’ within Federal research facilities where companies can design, prototype, and test a new product or process. The Department of Labor will also launch a $100 Million American Apprenticeships Grant Competition to spur new apprenticeship models and scale effective ones in high-growth fields like advanced manufacturing.

These initiatives are informed by three broad recommendations contained in AMP’s concurrently released final report, Accelerating U.S. Advanced Manufacturing. The report calls for increased investment in targeted technologies; further investments in the creation of a national industry-recognized, competency-based system of workforce development; and the development of a business environment that encourages the scale-up of new technologies.

- From the Grants Resource Center, GrantWeek