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Brown's Call to Create National Network of Manufacturing Innovation Gains Momentum with President's Announcement of Three New Hubs(Targeted News Service Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) WASHINGTON, May 9 -- The office of Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, has issued the following news release: U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown's (D-OH) call to create a National Network of Manufacturing Innovation (NNMI) gained momentum today when the Obama Administration announced that it will create three new manufacturing innovation institutions - supported by a federal investment of $200 million from five agencies - modeled after the successful National Additive Manufacturing Innovation Institute (NAAMI) in Youngstown, Ohio. In advance of the President's State of the Union Address, Brown announced his plans to introduce legislation that would establish more next generation manufacturing centers like the first-of-its-kind NAMII in Youngstown. Brown worked with Sen. Roy Blunt (R-MO) to pass a bipartisan amendment to the Senate Budget for Fiscal Year 2014 aimed at supporting the creation of NNMI. "This is about retaining our edge in manufacturing innovation and ensuring that American workers and business can out-compete and out-innovate the rest of the world," Brown said. "We know that manufacturing has strong ripple effects on the rest of our economy and helped build America's middle class. A National Network of Manufacturing Innovation will ensure that we don't cede our American leadership to countries that are racing to get ahead." Today, the Obama Administration announced a competition to launch three more institutes with a Federal commitment of $200 million across five Federal agencies: Defense, Energy, Commerce, NASA, and the National Science Foundation. Working with industry, labor, and his Senate colleagues, Brown is drafting legislation that would help establish more next generation manufacturing centers like NAMII in Youngstown. Brown's legislation is designed to bring together industry, universities and community colleges, federal agencies - such as the Departments of Commerce, Defense, Energy, and the National Science Foundation - and U.S. state and local governments to accelerate manufacturing innovation. Specifically, the legislation would establish public-private Institutes that leverage investments to bridge the gap between basic research and product development, provide shared assets to help companies--particularly small and medium-size manufacturing enterprises--access cutting-edge capabilities and equipment, and create an environment to educate and train students and workers in advanced manufacturing skills. Each Institute will serve as a regional hub of manufacturing excellence, providing the innovation infrastructure to support regional manufacturing and ensuring that our manufacturing sector is a key pillar in an economy that is built to last. This model has been successfully deployed in other countries and would address a gap in the U.S. manufacturing innovation infrastructure. In March, Brown passed an amendment with Sen. Roy Blunt (R-MO) to support the creation of a NNMI. The Brown-Blunt Amendment was supported by the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM), Association for Manufacturing Technologies (AMT), SEMI North America, US Conference of Mayors, Association of Public and Land Grant Universities, Council on Competitiveness, the International Economic Development Council (IEDC), American Society for Engineering Education, United Auto Workers (UAW), Association of American Universities, Semiconductor Industry Association, the American Auto Policy Council, and The Ohio State University. The first manufacturing hub is located in Youngstown. In August 2012, Brown joined White House officials to announce funding to establish a new, first-of-its-kind manufacturing institute in Youngstown, known as NAMII. In June 2012, Brown led a Congressional letter of support for the Cleveland-Youngstown-Pittsburgh TechBelt to receive the competitively-awarded grant. Described as "Congress' leading proponent of American Manufacturing," Brown--a member of the Senate Manufacturing Caucus--has introduced a package of key legislative proposals aimed at bolstering the competiveness of U.S. manufacturers and boosting domestic manufacturing. Last year, legislation sponsored by Brown and U.S. Sen. Mark Kirk (R-IL), the National Manufacturing Strategy Act of 2011, passed the House. This bipartisan legislation requires the Commerce Secretary to conduct a comprehensive analysis of the nation's manufacturing sector and submit to Congress a National Manufacturing Strategy (NMS). The goals of the NMS are to increase manufacturing jobs, identify emerging technologies to strengthen U.S. competitiveness, and strengthen the manufacturing sectors in which the U.S. is most competitive. TNS mv45 130510-4339914 61MarlynVitin (c) 2013 Targeted News Service |