LOWELL -- It's a tale of two fabrics.

The standard uniform catches fire and never stands a chance, burning completely through.

But the other flame-retardant uniform self-extinguishes the fire within a few seconds, resulting in a charred sleeve. This safer, lower cost, non-toxic material may end up saving soldiers and firefighters in the future.

Construction of a national photonics initiative headquartered in Rochester should end up $3.2 million under budget, officials said Tuesday.

Meanwhile, roughly half of the $44 million in tools for the research hub on Lake Avenue have been delivered or are in transit. Installation is expected to begin next month, with officials anticipating an...

It's become conventional wisdom that the last 30 years have been a hotbed of innovation, but evidence suggests otherwise. As Robert Gordon explains in The Rise and Fall of American Growth , productivity growth peaked between 1920 and 1970 and has declined ever since. Economist Tyler Cowen calls this the Great Stagnation .

Part of the reason for...

Two floors of a former Kodak building on Lake Avenue have been renovated to house the nearly-completed AIM Photonics headquarters.

Approximately $30 million in taxpayer money has been used to prepare it; another $30 million is in the works.

The nerve center of AIM Photonics is in the clean room, whether designs will be developed into prototypes...

At a hearing of the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s Disrupter Series, The Internet of Things, Manufacturing and Innovation, Dr. Thomas R. Kurfess stated, “Programs such as Manufacturing USA that bring together collaborative teams from industry, government and academe are not only bringing the Internet of Things into the manufacturing world...