Manufacturing and Workforce Partnerships

Renewing American innovation in a more challenging global economy must begin with a strategy for investing in American students and workers to contribute and benefit from the 21st century innovation economy

Resilience has not been a major factor in organizing the manufacturing economy in recent decades as U.S. firms, driven by considerations of market efficiency, made massive investments in distributed production, notably in China. Restructuring supply chains from the ideal of “just in time” to “just in case” calls for greater investment in manufacturing innovation, and in re-shoring some of the nation’s high-tech manufacturing capabilities.  It also calls for renewing the ecosystems that sustain domestic manufacturing. For this new challenge to be met, firms will require workers with greater proficiency in literacy and numeracy, as well as technical and problem-solving skills.

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Manufacturing and Workforce

The Chinese government, and their agenda to steal competitors’ intellectual property, poses a significant long-term threat to the economic and national security of the United States

Commentary by Sujai Shivakumar — October 25, 2022

Kostiantyn/AdobeStock

Reshoring Semiconductor Manufacturing: Addressing the Workforce Challenge

Despite new investment in domestic chip-making, chip makers encounter a shortage of construction workers to build new facilities and a lack of qualified workers to run them. This report discusses increasing development of U.S. talent toward semiconductor chip production.

Report by Sujai Shivakumar , Charles Wessner , and Thomas Howell — October 6, 2022

Photo: Kzenon/Adobe Stock

Renew SBIR, Just Defend the Recipients against China

With the SBIR program up for reauthorization, it is more important than ever to reflect on this hugely successful program’s impacts on the U.S. economy and innovation.

Report by Charles Wessner and Sujai Shivakumar — September 14, 2022

Photo: maciek905/Adobe Stock

Old Is New: Making Innovation Work for Everyone

To be effective, renewing U.S. innovation must mean encouraging and engaging with the multiplicity of local initiatives that connect the shared interests of communities and firms in building their region’s productive base and skilled technical workforce.

Commentary by Tom Guevara — September 7, 2022

Photo: Jackie Niam/ Adobe Stock

Can Semiconductor Reshoring Prime a U.S. Manufacturing Renaissance?

The new strategic focus on semiconductor manufacturing represents a more comprehensive understanding of the industry’s importance beyond a secure supply of chips for defense applications.

Commentary by Sujai Shivakumar , Charles Wessner , and Tom Howell — September 1, 2022

Photo: Kostiantyn/Adobe Stock

RAI Explainer: the Small Business Innovation Research Program

SBIR today is one of the most emulated and extensively studied government R&D programs in the world. Below, we look at the history and features of this program and why the future of SBIR in the U.S. is in doubt.

Blog Post by Gabrielle Athanasia — July 8, 2022