Report

National Network for Manufacturing Innovation (NNMI) Program Annual Report

Manufacturing USA
Economy, Security, Workforce

The National Network for Manufacturing Innovation (NNMI), now known as Manufacturing USA, began in earnest in 2011, when the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) recognized the need for a concerted, whole-of-government effort to increase the footprint of applied research and development in advanced manufacturing.

Image of the report cover for the National Network for Manufacturing Innovation (NNMI) Program Annual Report
National Network for Manufacturing Innovation (NNMI) Program Annual Report

Working together, the public-private partnerships of NNMI have undertaken a historic effort to support industry in establishing the ecosystems or industrial commons that will better enable innovators to develop the specific manufacturing technologies, processes, and capabilities needed to advance promising early stage technological inventions that can be scaled-up and commercialized by U.S. manufacturers.

Our commitment to manufacturing innovation sends an unmistakable message to all: America is “open for business.” - Penny Pritzker U.S. Secretary of Commerce

The NNMI Program includes a number of distributed manufacturing innovation institutes, located at regional hubs strategically poised to bring together manufacturing expertise and relevant research capabilities. The essence of each institute is collaborative and typically pre-competitive work on the development and production scale-up of promising technologies. Led by a non-profit organization and supported by a consortium of industry, academia and national laboratories, each institute is funded jointly by private and public sources. By the end of September 2015, seven institutes had been established. They are:

  • America Makes, the National Additive Manufacturing Innovation Institute, Youngstown, Ohio, focusing on additive manufacturing/3D Printing technologies.
  • Digital Manufacturing and Design Innovation Institute, Chicago, Illinois, focusing on integrated digital design and manufacturing.
  • PowerAmerica—The Next Generation Power Electronics Manufacturing Innovation Institute, Raleigh, North Carolina, focusing on wide bandgap semiconductor based power electronics.
  • Lightweight Innovations for Tomorrow, Detroit, Michigan, focusing on lightweight metals manufacturing technology.
  • Institute for Advanced Composites Manufacturing Innovation, Knoxville, Tennessee, focusing on advanced fiber-reinforced polymer composites.
  • AIM Photonics—American Institute for Manufacturing Integrated Photonics, Rochester, New York, focusing on integrated photonic circuit manufacturing.
  • NextFlex, America’s Flexible Hybrid Electronics Manufacturing Institute, San Jose, California, focusing on the manufacturing and integration of semiconductors and flexible electronics.

Regionally grounded yet nationally connected and impactful, these institutes leverage the talent of their surrounding ecosystem and support the collective vision of U.S. global leadership in advanced manufacturing.

The full report describes the NNMI Program’s major accomplishments for 2015; download the full report.

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