April Workshop at RPI Is Opportunity to Help Design the National Network for Manufacturing Innovation

The first of a planned series of regional workshops to design a proposed $1 billion federal initiative, the National Network for Manufacturing Innovation (NNMI), will be held on April 25, 2012, at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, N.Y.

The kick-off meeting, Designing for Impact I: Workshop on Building the National Network for Manufacturing Innovation," is being organized by the Advanced Manufacturing National Program Office (AMNPO). The AMNPO is a new, interagency collaboration involving the Departments of Defense, Energy, and Commerce, as well as the National Science Foundation, and is hosted by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).

Conceived to address strategic gaps in the U.S. innovation system, the NNMI is envisioned as a network of up to 15 regional hubs—Institutes for Manufacturing Innovation (IMIs)—to connect research discoveries and budding ideas for tomorrow's technologies and products with current U.S. manufacturers as well as with start-ups in the making. The network was proposed as a public-private collaboration in the President's FY 2013 budget.

Workshop participants, including representatives from industry, academia, state and local governments, economic development organizations and other stakeholders, will learn about the principles and concepts behind the NNMI and participate in interactive sessions designed to solicit ideas on how to best structure the network and the IMIs. As envisioned, each IMI will serve as a regional hub of manufacturing excellence. These regional collaborations will bring together industry, universities and community colleges, federal agencies and states to accelerate innovation by investing in industrially relevant manufacturing technologies with broad applications and to support education and training of an advanced manufacturing workforce.

The April 25 workshop will be held at RPI's Curtis R. Priem Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center in Troy, NY. Advance online registration is required. The registration form is at events.energetics.com/AMNPOimpact (link no longer works), and additional information is available at manufacturing.gov/amp/event_042512.html (link no longer works). Space is limited and registration will be on a first-come, first-served basis. Online registration will continue until 5 p.m. Eastern time, April 20, 2012.

For more information, see the website or contact amnpo [at] nist.gov (amnpo[at]nist[dot]gov).