This is the first strategic plan for the National Network for Manufacturing Innovation (NNMI) Program. It describes the vision of the program and its goals. This plan outlines the methods by which these goals will be achieved, including the program’s investment strategy, the mechanisms by which investments made by federal agencies will be coordinated, and the metrics by which the program will be assessed.
National Network for Manufacturing Innovation (NNMI) Program Strategic Plan
The core message of the strategic plan is the vision, mission, and goals of the program.
Vision
The vision for the NNMI Program is U.S. global leadership in advanced manufacturing.
Mission
To support this vision, the mission of the NNMI Program is connecting people, ideas, and technology to solve industry-relevant advanced manufacturing challenges, thereby enhancing industrial competitiveness and economic growth, and strengthening our national security. The NNMI Program is designed to: 1) provide a fertile innovation environment for advanced manufacturing;
2) enable vigorous domestic development of transformative manufacturing technologies; 3) promote coordinated public and private investment in pre-competitive advanced manufacturing
technology infrastructure; 4) facilitate rapid scale-up and market penetration of advanced manufacturing technologies; and 5) provide leadership and creative solutions to develop the talent necessary to drive innovation through advanced manufacturing enterprises.
The NNMI Program operationalizes the purposes and requirements of the NNMI program as described in
the RAMI Act and implements the recommendations made by the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST). The structure of the NNMI Program is built around the recognition that
investment in early stage basic research, while important, is not sufficient to ensure that new technologies progress smoothly from invention to product development or that they will eventually be scaled up for manufacturing in the United States. The NNMI Program aims to promote stable and sustainable domestic innovation ecosystems and the training of a skilled workforce to accelerate the development, scale-up, and deployment of promising advanced manufacturing technologies.
Goals and Objectives
To realize the NNMI Program’s vision, the agencies and institutes participating in the NNMI Program
collectively work toward achieving these four program goals:
Goal 1: Increase the competitiveness of U.S. manufacturing.
Goal 2: Facilitate the transition of innovative technologies into scalable, cost-effective, and highperforming domestic manufacturing capabilities.
Goal 3: Accelerate the development of an advanced manufacturing workforce.
Goal 4: Support business models that help institutes to become stable and sustainable.
As the participating agencies work toward realizing the NNMI Program’s vision, success will be measured by continual and substantive progress towards meeting each of the four program goals. The backbone of the NNMI is the understanding that America is at its strongest when we work together and make full use of our human resources. Connected through each institute and through the larger network of institutes, communities of researchers enable cutting-edge production technologies to be readied for use by industry. These talented, knowledgeable, experienced professionals provide realworld training for the next generation of our industrial workforce — who will then, in turn, gain access to high-paying advanced manufacturing jobs.
To learn more about the NNMI Program Strategic Plan download the full plan.
