YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio - A Youngstown consortium has won a major national competition that will generate 70-million dollars for advanced manufacturing technology.
The setting was the shop floor of M-7 Technologies, where a large crowd gathered to hear that a proposal for a Manufacturing Innovation Institute in Youngstown was selected as the winning proposal by the Department of Defense and the Department of Commerce.
"This was a fierce competition," said White House Economic Council Director Gene Sperling.
Sperling was one of three administration officials on hand to discuss the pilot program and its role in revitalizing American manufacturing.
"This is the best opportunity America has had in a long time to bring jobs back and to compete for the advanced manufacturing jobs of the future," Sperling said.
The Youngstown consortium was made up of numerous collaborators, including Youngstown State University, and its winning proposal calls for an institute for innovative research in additive manufacturing. Additive manufacturing is the opposite of cutting a part or product out of a large piece of steel or other material.
"And you construct it additively by putting these little pieces together and create a part that way," said Dr. Martin Abraham, Dean of YSU's STEM College.
The headquarters for the institute will be in downtown Youngstown at the Youngstown Business Incubator.
The acting U.S. Commerce Secretary says this pilot institute will be a magnet for Youngstown. "Almost surely attracting new businesses, attracting additional researchers, creating new jobs, creating a cluster around this particular area in this innovative new technology," said Secretary Rebecca Blank.
The 30-million dollar federal grant will be matched by 40 million dollars from the consortium partners. A ribbon cutting at the new institute is anticipated in September.
All content © Copyright 2000 - 2013 Worldnow and WFMJ. All Rights Reserved. For more information on this site, please read our Privacy Policy and Terms
