US plans institute of innovation to prevent jobs going to India

WASHINGTON: The Obama Administration has announced setting up of an institute for manufacturing innovations which will help prevent jobs going to India and China.

"This institute will help make sure that manufacturing jobs of tomorrow take root not in places like China or India, but right here in the United States of America," US President Barack Obama said in a statement.

"That is how we will put more people back to work and build an economy that lasts," he added.

The National Additive Manufacturing Innovation Institute ( NAMII), which will be based in Ohio, will be a public-private partnership initiative and has received USD 70 million as the initial financial assistance.

"I am pleased that we are taking steps to strengthen American manufacturing by launching a new manufacturing institute in Ohio," he added.

On March 9, Obama had announced plans to invest USD 1 billion to catalyze a network of up to 15 manufacturing innovation institutes around the country that would serve as regional hubs of manufacturing excellence and help to make manufacturers more competitive and encourage investment in the United States.

Obama also announced immediate steps to launch a pilot institute to serve as a proof-of concept for the NNMI.

Five federal agencies - the Departments of Defense, Energy, and Commerce, the National Science Foundation, and NASA - jointly committed to invest USD 45 million in a pilot institute on additive manufacturing.