U.S. MANUFACTURINGMIT Announces the Initiative for New Manufacturing
The Institute-wide effort aims to bolster industry and create jobs by driving innovation across vital manufacturing sectors.
MIT earlier this week launched its Initiative for New Manufacturing (INM), an Institute-wide effort to reinfuse U.S. industrial production with leading-edge technologies, bolster crucial U.S. economic sectors, and ignite job creation.
The initiative will encompass advanced research, innovative education programs, and partnership with companies across many sectors, in a bid to help transform manufacturing and elevate its impact.
“We want to work with firms big and small, in cities, small towns and everywhere in between, to help them adopt new approaches for increased productivity,” MIT President Sally A. Kornbluth wrote in a letter to the Institute community this morning. “We want to deliberately design high-quality, human-centered manufacturing jobs that bring new life to communities across the country.”
Kornbluth added: “Helping America build a future of new manufacturing is a perfect job for MIT — and I’m convinced that there is no more important work we can do to meet the moment and serve the nation now.”
The Initiative for New Manufacturing also announced its first six founding industry consortium members: Amgen, Flex, GE Vernova, PTC, Sanofi, and Siemens. Participants in the INM Industry Consortium will support seed projects proposed by MIT researchers, initially in the area of artificial intelligence for manufacturing.
INM joins the ranks of MIT’s other presidential initiatives — including The Climate Project at MIT; MITHIC, which supports the human-centered disciplines; MIT HEALS, centered on the life sciences and health; and MGAIC, the MIT Generative AI Impact Consortium.
“There is tremendous opportunity to bring together a vibrant community working across every scale — from nanotechnology to large-scale manufacturing — and across a wide-range of applications including semiconductors, medical devices, automotive, energy systems, and biotechnology,” says Anantha Chandrakasan, MIT’s chief innovation and strategy officer and dean of engineering, who is part of the initiative’s leadership team. “MIT is uniquely positioned to harness the transformative power of digital tools and AI to shape future of manufacturing. I’m truly excited about what we can build together and the synergies this creates with other cross-cutting initiatives across the Institute.”
The initiative is just the latest MIT-centered effort in recent decades aiming to expand American manufacturing. A faculty research group wrote the 1989 bestseller “Made in America: Regaining the Productive Edge,” advocating for a renewal of manufacturing; another MIT project, called Production in the Innovation Economy, called for expanded manufacturing in the early 2010s. In 2016, MIT also founded The Engine, a venture fund investing in
