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On Thursday, the Obama administration announced it had selected the TechBelt region, encompassing northeast Ohio, western Pennsylvania and northern West Virginia, to host the pilot institute of the National Network for Manufacturing Innovation (NNMI). The new National Additive Manufacturing Innovation Institute (NAMII) will operate as a partnership of more than 60 companies, research universities, community colleges and nonprofit organizations from the region.

The White House recently released Capturing Domestic Competitive Advantage in Advanced Manufacturing, a blueprint intended to serve as a national framework for the sustainable resurgence in advanced manufacturing in the United States. The report was written by the Advanced Manufacturing Partnership (AMP) steering committee, a national public-private partnership formed by the Obama administration in 2011 to help increase public and private investments in advanced manufacturing and create high-paying manufacturing jobs.

Unlike last year when a wave of new governors pushed sweeping proposals to re-organize economic development activities and grow the economy, the 2012 legislative sessions brought mostly modest changes for tech-based initiatives. While many programs were level funded or received smaller increases than in previous years, a handful of states increased funds or introduced new initiatives to support economic development efforts.

Talented human capital is singled out as the most critical resource differentiating the prosperity of countries and companies in the manufacturing sector, according to a new report from the World Economic Forum. Even as unemployment remains high across the globe, an average 10 million jobs cannot be filled because of a growing skills gap. Experts say the problem is likely to worsen as more skilled workers retire. The report highlights key trends that will define manufacturing competition over the next 20 years.

The Obama Administration has released details on this year's $26 million Advanced Manufacturing Jobs and Innovation Accelerator Challenge, a multi-agency initiative to assist in the development and implementation of regionally-driven economic development strategies that support advanced manufacturing and cluster development. The challenge will fund approximately 12 new awards, each with a project period of up to three years. The deadline for applications is July 9, 2012.

Massachusetts House leaders introduced a bill earlier this week calling for funding to support R&D at universities and research centers, manufacturing grants and workforce training, and a venture capital mentoring program for startups. The measure is touted as a jobs bill to stimulate the state's sluggish recovery by focusing on high-growth sectors of the economy.

As global economies shift, developing nations are attempting to transition as suppliers of raw materials to nations that are producers of value-added goods. Africa has been a major supplier of raw materials to the developed world. However, it drastically lagged behind in the production of valued-added goods. Recently, African nations have attempted to reinvent their economic development efforts from suppliers to producers by developing programs to grow tech-based economies.

Workers who pursue manufacturing jobs likely are to earn premium wages and benefits and find work in STEM fields, thus improving their skills and directly contributing to the nation's competitiveness, according to The Benefits of Manufacturing Jobs from the Commerce Department's Economics and Statistics Administration. On average, total hourly compensation, including benefits, is 17 percent higher for manufacturing workers compared to non-manufacturing workers.

Three federal agencies (Departments of Commerce, Defense and Energy) are accepting applications for the establishment of a $45 million pilot Institute for Additive Manufacturing. The federal agencies intend for the Institute for Additive Manufacturing to accelerate research, development and demonstration in additive manufacturing and transition technology to manufacturing enterprises within the United States.

The National Institutes of Standards and Technology (NIST) has released a request for information (RFI) on the National Network for Manufacturing Innovation. Responders to this RFI should address one or more of the 21 questions found in the document. NIST intends for these comments to help shape the new program that will be funded in 2013. Comments are due October 25, 2012.

A large majority of U.S. manufacturing jobs are located in large metropolitan areas, according to a new paper from the Brookings Institution Metropolitan Policy Program. In 2010, about 79.5 percent of manufacturing employment was centered in large metros and in central metropolitan counties. Over the past two years, however, there has been a slight shift in manufacturing activity back towards non-metro areas, as U.S. manufacturing has experienced a small resurgence.

A briefing on the planned Pilot Institute on Additive Manufacturing will be held May 16, 2012, in Arlington, Va. The pilot institute is envisioned as the initial step in building the National Network for Manufacturing Innovation (NNMI) proposed by President Obama earlier this year. The meeting will acquaint potential candidates with the NNMI Pilot Institute concept and the associated technology needs in the areas of additive manufacturing. Attendance at the May 16 event is not a prerequisite for submitting a proposal.

Lawmakers last month approved a $19.3 billion state budget for FY13, which includes funding for many of the recommendations from a task force convened by Gov. Nathan Deal to enhance the state's innovation economy. Specifically, the budget boosts funding for the Georgia Research Alliance (GRA) to recruit researchers and allocates $5 million for cancer-related research. The legislature also passed a measure expanding the Georgia Jobs tax credits and R&D tax credit.

his week Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel released the first draft of a long-term plan for the city's economic growth and job creation. The plan provides ten over-arching strategies to guide Chicago's economic development efforts, the first of which is a focus on advanced manufacturing. The plan also calls on the city to support entrepreneurship and innovation in emerging technology sectors.

This week, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) established a new office to coordinate the Advanced Manufacturing Partnership (AMP), an initiative created by the White House in June 2011 to facilitate advanced manufacturing collaborations among industry, academia and government partners. The National Program Office for AMP involves all federal agencies related to manufacturing, including the new Office of Manufacturing Policy of the National Economic Council.

A new report from the Milken Institute, Best-Performing Cities 2011, finds cities that saw significant improvements to their economic performance between 2010 and 2011 were able to:

A new Office of Manufacturing Policy within the National Economic Council (NEC) will work across agency lines to coordinate the federal government's manufacturing programs and help develop manufacturing policy. On Monday, President Obama named Commerce Secretary John Bryson and NEC Chair Gene Sperling as co-chairs of the office, which will convene cabinet-level meetings on the administration's manufacturing initiatives.

U.S. policy prescriptions for manufacturing are in disarray according to Make: an American Manufacturing Movement, a new report from the Council on Competitiveness. Policymakers, the report's authors contend, are bombarded with widely available reports and analysis that support one of three conflicting views (it is on steep decline, doing reasonably well or it is poised for growth) on the health and importance of U.S. manufacturing.

The Center for Regional Economic Competitiveness (CREC) released a new report that uses real-time labor market information data (web-based job advertisements) to analyze the U.S. manufacturing sector for the first half of 2011. Using Labor Insight, a web tool that aggregates data about web-advertised job openings, co-authors Lauren Gilchrist, Ken Poole and Mark White highlighted several important characteristics of anticipated manufacturing hiring:

American manufacturing companies cannot fill as many as 600,000 skilled positions — even as unemployment numbers hover at historic levels — according to Boiling Point? The Skills Gap in U.S. Manufacturing, a new report from Deloitte and the Manufacturing Institute. This annual skills report provides a stark snapshot of the manufacturing sector's inability to find qualified workers.

Building on several of the new programs enacted during the regular legislative session (see the June 15, 2011 issue of the Digest), Gov. Dan Malloy last week signed into law HB 6801, a comprehensive legislative package that authorizes $626 million in bonds to support efforts aimed at job creation. The bill has several components to support high-tech entrepreneurship, workforce development, and incentivize manufacturers and small businesses.

A newly established policy academy providing guidance and technical assistance will help seven states improve their environment for innovation and align state R&D investments, workforce development and education systems with current and future needs of advanced manufacturing industries. The policy academy will help each state develop a plan or overcome barriers for putting a plan into action through a highly interactive team-based process that includes input from NGA, MEP, EDA, SSTI, private sector consultants, and research organizations.

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker is the latest governor to call a special session focused on economic development proposals he says will create jobs (see the Sept. 7, 2011 issue of the Digest). Gov. Walker issued the executive order last week, calling it a "Back to Work Wisconsin" special session.

The Greater Milwaukee Committee (GMC) announced Innovation in Milwaukee (MiKE) — a new $500,000 initiative designed to align southeastern Wisconsin's global and advanced manufacturers with the region's design, technology and innovation companies. MiKE will be built around three core elements:

The Information Technology & Innovation Foundation (ITIF) released International Benchmarking of Countries' Policies and Programs Supporting SME Manufacturers — a new report that identifies and analyzes manufacturing support programs and practices for small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that have been implemented in ten foreign countries (i.e., Argentina, Australia, Austria, Canada, China, Germany, Japan, Korea, Spain and the United Kingdom), in addition to those of the United States. The authors, Stephen Ezell and Robert D.