Leaders in Chemical Industry support President Barack Obama's Advanced Manufacturing Partnership

President Barack Obama gave a speech today, June 24, at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Penn., launching the Advanced Manufacturing Partnership, a national initiative to boost manufacturing and the U.S. economy.

Obama discussed important breakthroughs in American industry over the past 50 years and described their roots in collaborative research and development efforts by individuals, small companies and universities. He emphasized the role manufacturing has played in American economic dominance over this time period.

In recent years, however, we have lost some of our edge, he said, particularly some of the competitive spirit and ambition that made American manufacturing and the U.S. economy the envy of the modern world. At the recommendation of his Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, Obama announced a new initiative, the Advanced Manufacturing Partnership, or AMP. Comprised of some of the country’s most innovative leaders such as Carnegie Mellon University, Stanford University, and the University of Michigan, the partnership will also include industrial leaders such as Dow Chemical, Johnson & Johnson and Honeywell.

This partnership’s goal is to “make sure tomorrow’s breakthroughs are American breakthroughs.”  It will facilitate collaboration and “create the kind of innovation infrastructure necessary to get ideas from the drawing board to the manufacturing floor to the market more quickly.” Additionally, federal agencies will partner with private sector counterparts to increase manufacturing capabilities in areas that are important to our national security. All of these provisions will make American businesses more competitive internationally, will create new manufacturing jobs that will grow the economy and put the wind back into the sails of the American spirit of innovation.

The president’s proposals will dovetail with ACS jobs and innovation policy and offer new directions for ACS members.