Pritzker at America Makes for Closed Discussion with Members
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – America Makes, the National Additive Manufacturing Innovation Institute, today welcomed U.S. Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker to its headquarters downtown.
Pritzker was accompanied by Jay Williams, the city’s former may who now serves as assistant secretary of commerce for economic development and three other top officials from her department.
The commerce secretary is touring several institutes within the National Network of Manufacturing Innovation infrastructure established by the Obama Administration. Six such institutes are operating with three more to be opened following a competitive process. Each is focused on the development of a different manufacturing technology.
Said Pritzker in a prepared statement released by America Makes, “The NNMI institutes help spur advanced technologies critical to keeping America innovative and competitive in the global economy. Communities all over the country are clamoring for them because they represent a dynamic tool for spurring US economic growth. The type of collaborative, cutting-edge technologies that the NNMI promotes is essential to creating high-quality jobs and opportunity here.”
Pritzker plans to also tour the Advanced Composites Manufacturing Innovation in Knoxville, Tenn., and the Digital Manufacturing and Design Innovation Institute in Chicago.
Noted the founding director of America Makes, Ralph Resnick, Pritzker’s “visit this month coincides with the institutes third anniversary. During this time, America Makes has transitioned from the flagship institute in the developing NNMI infrastructure to now serving as a trailblazing example of the success that can be accomplished by a public-private partnership and collaborative model.”
Pritzker’s visit included a roundtable discussion, closed to the press, with what America Makes describes as a “cross-section” of its membership community that included “representatives from industry, small enterprise, material suppliers and original equipment providers, academia and nonprofit organizations.
A press conference was scheduled to follow at 11:15 a.m.
The Business Journal will have complete coverage of Pritzker’s visit later today and tomorrow morning.
Copyright 2024 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
