On March 2, the National Academy of Engineering in Washington, DC released a new report entitled “Making Value for America; Embracing the Future of Manufacturing, Technology and Work”. The report was presented at a meeting of the Academy, and was summarized in a press release earlier in the day.
The meeting was well attended, and included panel discussions by those involved in creating the report, where highlights were presented to the audience for discussion. The report offers several recommendations for government, academia, and industry to ensure that U.S. manufacturing strengthens its capacity for innovation. These include establishing more training programs, enacting additional legislative incentives for business to invest in innovation, creation of more innovation networks, identification of shared opportunities between government and private industry to invest in pre-competitive research, and the implementation of programs to maintain and attract diversity within the workforce.
Nick Donofrio, Chairman of the committee that conducted the study, ended the meeting with a great story from his childhood that is certainly applicable, and can be summarized in the statement “if nothing changes, then nothing changes”.
EWI is well positioned to work with both commercial and government clients to implement these recommendations, and meet the challenges of advancing manufacturing innovation in the U.S. For more information, your can contact us here.