Institutes for Manufacturing Innovation
Abstract
Technological innovation and leadership in manufacturing are essential to sustaining the foundations of economic prosperity to enable our military to maintain technological advantage and global dominance. To support these goals, Institutes for Manufacturing Innovation (IMIs), each led by non-profit 501(c) entities, will serve as regional hubs to accelerate technological innovation into commercial applications and concurrently develop the educational competencies and production processes via shared public-private sectors. Collaborative execution and funding by the Departments of Defense (DoD), Energy (DOE), and Commerce (DoC), the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), and the National Science Foundation (NSF) to support the establishment of these IMIs will spur industry cost-share for manufacturing innovation and quickly develop a pathway for technology-focused regional hubs for collaboration among government, industry, and academia that will meet critical government and Warfighter needs. The concept of these institutes is described in the President’s National Science and Technology Council report by the Advanced Manufacturing National Program Office entitled, “National Network for Manufacturing Innovation: A Preliminary Design,” published in January 2013. Each of the six DoD-led IMIs addressed in this budget is expected to be self-sustaining, without reliance on federal sustainment funding, by the end of the cooperative agreement (CA) period between the federal government and the non-profit-led consortium. This CA period is typically for five years, with the option to extend the agreement up to two years for the benefit of DoD projects, technical achievement, etc., to fully leverage the minimum 1:1 cost share. All subsequent (post-CA) federal funding provided to any IMI will be on a specific project basis by the requirements generators, either within or external to DoD. Each of the six DoD-led IMIs is intended to: 1) Bring together industry, universities and community colleges, federal agencies, and state and local governments and organizations to create regionally-based but nationally-impactful public-private partnerships underpinning the formation of sustainable manufacturing innovation ecosystems 2) Accelerate innovation to bridge the gap between Research and Development (R&D) and deployment of technological innovations in domestic production of goods 3) Invest in industrially relevant manufacturing technologies with broad applications, accelerating innovation within DoD and across all manufacturing sectors to increase U.S. competitiveness 4) Provide shared assets to help companies access cutting-edge capabilities and equipment 5) Create an unparalleled environment to educate and train students and workers in advanced manufacturing skills 6) Focus on maturing the associated manufacturing technologies from Manufacturing Readiness Level (MRL) 4 to 7 The first and second year of each of these new non-profit business entities is devoted to creating a sustainable business model, with follow-on refinement through the final year, including: growing the membership of each Institute as appropriate; initiating revenue streams (e.g., membership fees, training and workforce development, certification and licensing, etc.); establishing provisional Executive Board and Technical Advisory committees to execute the business of each institute; finalizing Intellectual Property plans; developing technology roadmaps to inform investment strategies; opening industrial commons to provide for shared resource facilities available to all institute members; initiating workforce training programs in each technology area; establishing complementary relationships between IMIs; analyzing the U.S. and Global industrial base in partnership with other government agencies to build upon the institute portfolio and address critical requirements; and further developing national technology roadmaps. Each established Institute for Manufacturing Innovation was selected through a competitive process. The executing DoD Service published a formal solicitation for proposals for each IMI, describing extensive proposal evaluation criteria. Non-Profit Organizations and Universities were eligible to bid, and each bidder formed a broad consortium of industry and academic partners for its proposal team. The executing DoD Service used a team of government experts to evaluate each proposal against the evaluation criteria and selected a winning consortium.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Project
- Publication Date
- Oct 01, 2016
- Source ID
- P350_0603680D8Z_3_0400_PB_2016
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