Last week, Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker wrapped up a three-state visit to National Network for Manufacturing Innovation (NNMI) institutes that are developing tomorrow’s transformative technologies and industries.

NNMI is a key element of the Administration’s competitiveness agenda and commitment to ensuring the next great revolution in manufacturing happens right here in America.

This initiative brings together regional business, academic, community, and government leaders to leverage assets, share risks, and lower costs in developing whole new fields of innovative products that can be sold across the globe. In addition, small manufacturers can test their ideas, and students and workers can train on state-of-the art equipment.

The type of collaborative, cutting-edge technologies designed, developed, and commercialized at our NNMI institutes are essential to keeping America at the forefront of 21^st century manufacturing and innovation. As Secretary Pritzker said, in today’s highly competitive global economy, leadership in manufacturing is not simply a “nice to have,” it is a “must have.”

NNMI currently has seven institutes, with two more in competition for federal investments. President Obama’s vision is to ultimately operate up to 45 manufacturing institutes over the next 10 years. Doing so is a critical step toward fostering an even more vibrant culture of American manufacturing innovation over the long term and attracting greater investment from the world’s leading industries.

The early successes of our first institutes led Congress to pass the Reinvest in American Manufacturing and Innovation Act, which will expand and strengthen NNMI. The RAMI legislation provides the Department of Commerce with authority to establish institutes in technology areas selected by industry. Funding for the first two of these hubs has been requested in the agency’s latest budget.

The NNMI institutes that Secretary Pritzker visited during her tour include:

• The America Makes facility in Youngstown, Ohio,  that is focused on 3D printing, also known as additive manufacturing, an innovative  technology that promises to make parts and even whole products faster and with less waste.
• The Institute for Advanced Composites in Knoxville, Tennessee, where they are developing advanced manufacturing and recycling processes for next-generation materials.
• The Digital Manufacturing and Design Innovation Institute in Chicago, Illinois, which is applying digital technologies to reduce manufacturing costs and strengthen supply chains.

Secretary Pritzker said that each of these institutes is doing game-changing research and development that reflects a strategic, global approach to competitiveness. Our NNMI institutes are dynamic tools for spurring economic growth and creating new hubs of opportunity today and for future generations.