This report responds to Section 102 of the America COMPETES Reauthorization Act of 2010, which directs the Committee on Technology of the National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) to develop a strategic plan to guide Federal programs and activities in support of advanced manufacturing research and development. Advanced manufacturing is a matter of fundamental importance to the economic strength and national security of the United States. Our analysis of patterns and trends in U.S. advanced manufacturing reveals both opportunities for Federal policy to accelerate the development of this vital sector and challenges to its continuing health.

The vision of the National Network for Manufacturing Innovation is U.S. global leadership in advanced manufacturing. It is a vision of a network of institutes that bring U.S. industry, academia, and government together to solve cross-sector manufacturing challenges that each sector simply cannot solve alone. Each institute is the manufacturing technology development and workforce training leader for a specific technical area. The institutes focus on transforming promising early-stage research into proven manufacturing capabilities that are ready for adoption by U.S. manufacturers. The institutes provide small, mid-sized, and large manufacturers with access to state-of-the-art facilities and equipment. In addition, each institute provides critical workforce training and skills development in these new technologies. By bringing to the table the entire supply chain associated with a particular developing technology, an innovation community emerges that will later form the basis of mature larger-scale manufacturing supply chains located within the United States. This is the first strategic plan for the National Network for Manufacturing Innovation (NNMI) Program. It describes the vision of the program and its goals. The plan identifies the methods by which these goals will be achieved, including the program's investment strategy, the mechanisms by which investments made by federal agencies will be coordinated, and the metrics by which the program will be assessed.

This book is a study on the developments of a strategic plan to guide Federal programs and activities in support of advanced manufacturing research and development. Advanced manufacturing is a matter of fundamental importance to the economic strength and national security of the United States. Analysis of patterns and trends in U.S. advanced manufacturing reveals both opportunities for Federal policy to accelerate the development of this vital sector and challenges to its continuing health. The acceleration of innovation for advanced manufacturing requires bridging a number of gaps in the present U.S. innovation system, particularly the gap between research and development (R&D) activities and the deployment of technological innovations in domestic production of goods. The strategic plan discussed in this book lays out a robust innovation policy that would help to close these gaps and address the full life-cycle of technology.

The United States has long thrived on its ability to manufacture goods and sell them in domestic and global markets. Manufacturing plays a vital role in almost every sector of the U.S. economy, stretching from aerospace to pharmaceuticals and beyond. Advanced manufacturing--which includes both new manufacturing methods and production of new products enabled by innovation--is an engine of America's economic power and a pillar of its national security. Advances in manufacturing enable the economy to continuously improve as new technologies and innovations increase productivity, enable new products, and create entirely new industries.Advances in manufacturing played a major role in America's global economic dominance in the 20th century. However, this century saw dramatic changes, with significant declines in U.S. manufacturing employment starting in the 1990s and accelerating losses during the 2008 recession. In the face of intense global competition, the Trump Administration has taken strong actions to defend the economy, expand manufacturing employment, and ensure a strong manufacturing and defense industrial base and resilient supply chain. Strong actions are required to combat unfair global trade practices and help U.S. manufacturers reach their full market potential. Although manufacturing employment remains below its pre-recession level, manufacturing jobs still account for 8.5 percent of the workforce, and nearly 350,000 manufacturing jobs have been created since President Trump took office. This strategic plan was developed by the National Science and Technology Council, Committee on Technology, Subcommittee on Advanced Manufacturing following extensive public outreach.

This book is a study on the developments of a strategic plan to guide Federal programs and activities in support of advanced manufacturing research and development. Advanced manufacturing is a matter of fundamental importance to the economic strength and national security of the United States. Analysis of patterns and trends in U.S. advanced manufacturing reveals both opportunities for Federal policy to accelerate the development of this vital sector and challenges to its continuing health. The acceleration of innovation for advanced manufacturing requires bridging a number of gaps in the present U.S. innovation system, particularly the gap between research and development (R and D) activities and the deployment of technological innovations in domestic production of goods. The strategic plan discussed in this book lays out a robust innovation policy that would help to close these gaps and address the full lifecycle of technology.

The Manufacturing USA initiative seeks to reinforce U.S.-based advanced manufacturing through partnerships among industry, academia, and government. Started in 2012 and established with bipartisan support by the Revitalize American Manufacturing and Innovation Act of 2014, the initiative envisages a nationwide network of research centers for manufacturing innovation. As of May 2017, 14 manufacturing innovation institutes had been established to facilitate the movement of early-stage research into proven capabilities ready for adoption by U.S. manufacturers. To better understand the role and experiences of the Manufacturing USA institutes to date, a committee of the Innovation Policy Forum of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine convened a workshop on May 23, 2017 drawing together institute directors and manufacturing policy experts along with leaders from industry, academia, and government. Participants addressed the role of the manufacturing institutes in increasing advanced manufacturing in the United States, examined selected foreign programs designed to support advanced manufacturing, and reviewed recent assessments of existing institutes. This publication summarizes the presentations and discussions from the workshop.