NOTE: The San Diego/Riverside iHub will convene a strategic planning meeting soon to attract one of the proposed manufacturing innovation centers. – CONNECT
Source: The Viginian-Pilot
During a Virginia visit last week, President Barack Obama pitched a plan to provide $1 billion in grant money to establish a series of regional institutes as part of an effort to expand the nation’s manufacturing base.
Money for that competitive grant program is built into Obama’s federal budget proposal for fiscal year 2013, which begins in October. His spending plan awaits congressional consideration.
According to senior administration officials, the money would create a network of 15 Institutes for Manufacturing Innovation, regional hubs that would bring together industry, government, colleges and states to spur research and development of manufacturing technologies.
Officials anticipate each institute will have a specific technology focus, with a goal of addressing industry challenges to reduce the cost and risk of commercializing new manufacturing processes.
Potential areas of emphasis include the development of lightweight materials for automobiles, aircraft, ships and trains; improvements to three-dimensional printing techniques for digital design work; and the creation of equipment to improve factory operations.
Obama will highlight the proposal today when he delivers a speech at a Rolls-Royce facility in Prince George County, where discs for the company’s aerospace engines are produced.
He’s also expected to announce the launch of a pilot institute with a $45 million initial investment.
An executive action under Obama’s “We Can’t Wait” economic platform, the pilot will be competitively selected and is envisioned as a model for other manufacturing institutes.
The Rolls-Royce facility was chosen for his speech, in part, because it represents the kind of manufacturing job creation championed by the president, with international companies bringing good-paying jobs to America.
When the company opened the facility in 2011, officials pledged to create 130 jobs when it was fully operational and signaled the prospect for future growth in Virginia.
That expansion could come soon.
Gov. Bob McDonnell this week announced that Rolls-Royce is considering a new advanced manufacturing factory at the site where high-precision turbine blades for aircraft engines would be developed.
McDonnell is expected to greet the president on the tarmac when he arrives in Richmond, and he is then scheduled to attend Obama’s speech.
Other Republicans weren’t so welcoming.
Ryan Mahoney, a spokesman for the Republican National Committee, dismissed the trip as another taxpayer-funded campaign stop that “won’t change Virginians’ minds about three years of Barack Obama’s broken promises and failed policies” on the economy.
Efforts to enhance the manufacturing sector have been a point of emphasis for Obama as he makes his economic case to the nation in a re-election year.
He touted plans to encourage the creation of industry jobs during his State of the Union address through a series of proposals to change tax policy to discourage job outsourcing.
And his administration argues his approach is working, pointing to statistics showing more than 400,000 domestic manufacturing jobs have been added in the past two years.
