Foster the people
Rebuilding American manufacturing is possible — but will require new ideas about turning lab breakthroughs into new products and a refurbished, highly skilled workforce, a group of scholars, industry leaders and government officials emphasized at an MIT conference Thursday and Friday.“The U.S. continues to be very innovative, but somehow downstream there seems to be a break,” said Olivier de Weck, an associate professor of aeronautics and astronautics and engineering systems at MIT, and executive director of the ongoing MIT Production in the Innovation Economy (PIE) study group, which is analyzing the state of American manufacturing. That is, while many observers still find the condition of lab research in America to be robust, there seems to be a gap between the fundamental research being performed and the volume of technologies emerging as a result, a point noted by many participants during the conference — the sixth annual manufacturing summit held by...