WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Maine Congressional delegation announced today that it is supporting the New England Consortium’s application to build a National Manufacturing Innovation Institute within New England.

The application, led by Draper Laboratory of Massachusetts and a steering committee of academia, industry and workforce development organizations in New England, was submitted to the Department of Defense this afternoon as part of a national competition to construct a Digital Manufacturing and Design Innovation Institute (DMDI). The DMDI Institute would serve as a regional hub designed to bridge the gap between basic research and product development, bringing together companies, universities and community colleges, as well as federal and state agencies to co-invest in technology areas that encourage investment and production in the United States. The collaborative application is also supported by Maine’s fellow New England states, including New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut and Vermont, as well as New York and Florida.

“America was built by hardworking men and women who put their minds, hearts, and hands to work for the betterment of our country. To this day the manufacturing industry they built plays a vital role in our economy, both here at home in Maine and across the nation,” the delegation said in a joint statement. “A manufacturing institute led in a collaborative way by industry, academia, and states will directly support and strengthen manufacturing as it rebounds and transforms into an even more powerful economic force, and we strongly believe that the New England application, including our great state of Maine, is a top contender.”

The competition, which is part of President Obama's plan to establish a National Network for Manufacturing Innovation, will create three new Manufacturing Innovation Institutes across the country. All three institutes will be selected through an open, competitive process, led by the Departments of Energy and Defense, with review from a multi-agency team of technical experts. The goal is to achieve an advanced manufacturing infrastructure that provides a 'teaching factory' to educate and train students and workers at all levels, while providing the shared assets to help companies and small manufacturers access the cutting-edge capabilities and equipment to design, test, and pilot new products and manufacturing processes.

Maine and the rest of the New England states joined together earlier this year in an effort to submit a joint proposal to the Department of Defense for the DMDI Institute. The proposal was supported by all four members of the Maine Congressional delegation, as well as the rest of the New England delegation, and was accepted by the Department of Defense to move forward to the current final round of the competition.

If the New England Consortium's proposal is selected, the DMDI Institute will also include Centers of Excellence in each participating state with advanced manufacturing capability and specific focus areas. Maine’s Center of Excellence will focus on next-generation facility design development and optimization, which would allow companies to understand and conduct studies between product design and factory implementation, leading to a virtually designed manufacturing factory in which the fabrication processes and flows could be conducted prior to committing significant resources.

New England boasts a significant and impressive concentration of innovation, design, manufacturing, and life-cycle support to Defense Department missions. In particular, New England is uniquely situated with a geographic concentration and density of world-class universities and researchers, a demonstrable history of innovation, and outstanding facilities with an enviable record of technology transition and fostering new business creation. The New England partners in the DMDI application range geographically from shipyards along the coastlines of Maine and New Hampshire to manufacturing plants in Northern New England and innovation hotbeds in the major metropolitan centers of Boston, Hartford, and Providence.

Final winning teams will be selected and announced in December. Federal funds will be matched by industry co-investment, support from state and local governments, and other sources. The ultimate objective is to create a network of 12 to 15 total manufacturing innovative institutes across the country with an associated network of Manufacturing Centers of Excellence located within each state. While three National Manufacturing Institutes have been funded, any future institutes are dependent upon appropriations from Congress.

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