White House appoints engineering professor to lead U.S. manufacturing consortium

The White House has announced that it has appointed Sridhar Kota, director of the Institute for Manufacturing Leadership at the University of Michigan, to lead a U.S. consortium to identify emerging advanced manufacturing technologies to enhance the country's innovation, manufacturing competitiveness, and national security.

Kota will lead MForesight: The Alliance for Manufacturing Foresight. “In this ‘think-and-do’ tank, we will identify emerging technologies early on so the nation can invest public and private sector dollars in a way that builds the infrastructure, knowledge, and workforce skills needed to anchor manufacturing technology in this country," Kota said.

"With collective access to over 30,000 subject matter experts across a wide range of industries, MForesight will serve as a continuous mechanism for research coordination across the public and private sectors," he added.

The group will evaluate technologies based on economic impact, job growth, likelihood of co-investment by the private sector, effect on multiple industry sectors, and the likelihood of the U.S. gaining a first-mover advantage, among other criteria.