Yesterday, Secretary Pritzker visited Greentown Labs in Somerville, Massachusetts, the nation’s largest cleantech incubator. She participated in a roundtable discussion with its hardware-driven member companies about how to best support U.S. competitiveness in the manufacturing sector. As an incubator, Greentown provides its 47 companies with access to prototyping space, shared machine shop tools, services, education, and the network they need to launch companies quickly.

 

During the roundtable, Secretary Pritzker stressed that strengthening America’s manufacturing sector is a key priority under the Commerce Department’s “Open for Business Agenda.” Manufacturing directly employs more than 12 million Americans and is critical to the U.S. economy.

 

She highlighted that the strength of the American manufacturing sector is closely tied to our ability to innovate – as manufacturers account for 75 percent of private sector R&D and receive roughly 70 percent of all patents issued. Secretary Pritzker also shared that startups account for over 40 percent of new jobs each year.

 

Through its local Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) center, MassMEP, the Department of Commerce also has a role to play at Greentown Labs. The MEP, part of the Commerce Department’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), is a state-federal network of 60 centers and 1,200 manufacturing experts who help small manufacturers improve their production processes, upgrade their technological capabilities, and bring new products to market. MassMEP, has a strong partnership with Greentown labs to assist companies in moving from thedevelopment phase to commercialization and production phase, and also has a project manager on site one day a week to work with their startups.

 

After the roundtable, Secretary Pritzker toured the facility, making stops at the lab spaces of several companies to learn about the products and technologies they are developing.

 

One of the companies she met with was WrightGrid, which produces 100% solar-powered, on-the-go, charging stations that provide secure charging for up to 10 devices. The company generates its revenue through on-station advertising and experiential marketing. During the tour, Secretary Pritzker spoke with Founder and CEO Ryan Wright, who began WrightGrid in an effort to marryhis love for environmental sustainability with his passion for entrepreneurship.