Dive Brief:
- The National Institute of Standards and Technology has awarded over $30 million to 12 Manufacturing Extension Partnership centers in 11 states and Puerto Rico, the Commerce Department’s agency announced Tuesday.
- The funds are part of a competition to support the MEP sites to help small- and medium-sized businesses accelerate adoption of advanced manufacturing technologies, including artificial intelligence, robotics, automation and additive manufacturing.
- The 12 winners must secure nonfederal matching funds or cost share of at least 50%. Under federal law, the government cannot provide more than 50% of capital and yearly funds to support an MEP center.
Dive Insight:
The awardees must enter a cooperative agreement with NIST for an evaluation of up to five years. This will allow NIST and Commerce Department staff to be involved with protocol development, data collection and analysis.
The awards only cover the winners’ first year of the project, and future funding will be based on availability, successful performance reviews and priorities aligning with MEP, NIST and the Commerce Department, according to the press release.
The agency called for the site awardees to develop metrics for technology adoption that will be shared across the MEP network. The winners will also actively engage with flagship manufacturers in “priority sectors” that each site has identified.
“This funding will help to ensure that our country’s small and medium-sized manufacturers increase their industrial competitiveness through advanced technology,” NIST Director Arvind Raman said in a statement. “These MEP centers can help drive successful technology adoption at scale and support critical long-term partnerships that will strengthen domestic supply chains around key industry sectors.”
NIST initially announced the funding opportunity in July. The notice asked for applications from Puerto Rico and 13 states, including California and Alaska, but the agency did not select MEP centers in the latter two states, according to the press release.
NIST did not respond to a request for comment about why it did not award funding in the latter two states. NIST said in the news release that it plans to accept applications from Alaska and California in the next competition scheduled for early 2027.
