US President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology Releases Report on Advanced Manufacturing. (June 28, 2011)

This past Friday the US President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) released its 56-page Report to the President on Ensuring American Leadership in advanced Manufacturing.

The covering letter with the report Reads:

In response to the PCAST report the Office of Science and Technology Policy, released a statement simultaneous with the release of the report which reads in part:

President Obama today announced the creation of an Advanced Manufacturing Partnership, to be spearheaded by leaders from top engineering universities and several major U.S. manufacturers. The President also directed the National Economic Council, and the Office of Science and Technology Policy to work closely with the new Partnership to implement a number of the PCAST report’s recommendations, including that the Federal government:

• Invest in shared infrastructure facilities, including Federal and university laboratories, which could be easily accessed by small and medium-sized firms and would facilitate significant productivity gains by allowing those companies to rapidly prototype, customize, test and produce new products;

• Support the development of advanced manufacturing processes that cut across multiple industry sectors and could be used by an array of companies to dramatically reduce product development time and increase entrepreneurs’ ability to design and transition their inventions into products made in the United States; and

• Participate in partnerships with industry and academia that identify and invest in broadly-applicable, precompetitive, emerging technologies—such as nanomanufacturing flexible electronics, information technology-enabled manufacturing, and advanced materials—that have the potential to transform the manufacturing sector.

The statement also includes the following paragraph: In addition to the Advanced Manufacturing Initiative, the PCAST report calls for changes in tax and business policies, including a permanent extension of the R&D tax credit; continued strong support for basic research in addition to the new emphasis on public-private partnerships to support pre-competitive applied research; and enhanced support for training and educational activities to create a more highly skilled workforce.