8

Study Recommendations

The following is a list of all study recommendations found in Chapters 2 through 6.

Recommendation 2-1: In concert with the National Security Strategy, the National Economic Council, the Office of Science and Technology Policy, the Department of Commerce, Department of Defense, Department of Energy, and any other agencies supporting advanced manufacturing should convene and within the next 2 years issue a formal U.S. Industrial Strategy, integrating technology development, scale-up financing, standards leadership, trade, and workforce development to align resources and maximize the national impact of federal manufacturing programs, including Manufacturing USA institutes.

Recommendation 2-2: By 2030, the U.S. Congress should take legislative action to define a globally competitive research and development tax credit for manufacturing processes and technologies and should actively explore expanding other tax reforms supporting manufacturing.

Recommendation 2-3: To address systemic capital gaps facing hardware-intensive technologies, the U.S. Congress, working with relevant agencies, should, within the next 2 years, authorize funding and set policy to create new federal manufacturing and financing mechanisms that include patient-capital funds, a sovereign wealth fund with a strategic focus on manufacturing, intellectual property–backed lending programs, coordinated public–private guidance funds, and other mechanisms. Manufacturing USA institutes should be formally integrated as advisors to manufacturing financing bodies, providing technical due diligence, scale-up roadmaps, readiness assessments, and first-of-a-kind validation data that de-risk future investments and inform investment decisions.

Recommendation 2-4: Manufacturing USA sponsoring agencies should immediately conduct a coordinated assessment to identify foundational manufacturing technologies in which U.S. capabilities have eroded or are in danger of erosion relative to those of international peers. Within 2 years, agencies should either (a) add foundational technology workstreams to existing institutes or (b) stand up new institutes where critical gaps exist.

Recommendation 2-5: The setting of standards is increasingly a geopolitical consideration; hence, within 2 years, Manufacturing USA institutes and the Advanced Manufacturing National Program Office should highlight the standards roadmaps that different institutes are generating, encourage the new National Institute of Standards and Technology–funded Standardization Center of Excellence to leverage these roadmaps, and obtain funding for actual standards writing as part of the institutes’ projects.

Recommendation 2-6: With ongoing sponsoring agency review and approval, starting in 2026, Manufacturing USA institutes should pursue structured collaborations with leading international manufacturing institutes in areas where complementary strengths exist. These partnerships should focus on shared research, pilot-scale demonstration, standards development, and knowledge exchange that advances domestic technology transfer and scale-up.

Recommendation 3-1: Within a year, each institute should define “technology transfer” in its roadmap with measurable milestones. These should be updated annually and, where possible, aligned with existing Manufacturing USA performance metrics and reporting frameworks used by the Advanced Manufacturing National Program Office and sponsoring agencies.

Recommendation 3-2: Within a year, each Manufacturing USA institute should specify and clearly and consistently document its initial and target readiness levels (Technology Readiness Level [TRL], Manufacturing Readiness Level, or Adoption Readiness Level, generally expressed as XRL) and demonstrate and document transitions to TRLs 7–9 using consistent reporting metrics coordinated through the Advanced Manufacturing National Program Office. These should be updated annually.

Recommendation 3-3: Manufacturing USA institutes, in conjunction with sponsoring-agency support, should begin immediate planning and initial implementation of pilot-scale and scale-up facilities, with defined milestones and early operational capability established by 2030 and full-scale operations, broadly accessible to small and medium–sized manufacturers, achieved by 2035. Implementation will require sustained federal funding and coordinated co-investment from industry and regional partners. Manufacturing USA institutes and such facilities should be supported through long-term,

renewable federal sponsorship that reflects their role as enduring national manufacturing infrastructure rather than short-term projects, with periodic performance-based review rather than assumptions of self-sufficiency within a single award cycle.

Recommendation 3-4: Within 2 years, Manufacturing USA institutes and the Advanced Manufacturing National Program Office should establish dedicated, well-staffed technology transfer teams and long-term staffing plans, leveraging existing federal technology transfer expertise and programs where appropriate.

Recommendation 3-5: Within 2 years, the Advanced Manufacturing National Program Office, with sponsoring agencies, should implement a standardized network-wide technology transfer metrics framework. If necessary, Congress should consider clarifying statutory reporting authorities to enable consistent performance metrics across all Manufacturing USA institutes.

Recommendation 3-6: Within a year, the Advanced Manufacturing National Program Office should establish a Technology Transfer Best Practices Office and formal cross-agency coordination mechanisms, building on lessons identified in previous National Academies and GAO studies of Manufacturing USA institutes.

Recommendation 4-1: Within the next 2 years, Manufacturing USA institute-sponsoring agencies (currently Departments of Commerce, Energy, and Defense) should create an Interagency Council as a formal, overarching directive body to set an integrated strategy for the Manufacturing USA institutes.

Recommendation 4-2: The Advanced Manufacturing National Program Office, working with the Interagency Council and sponsoring agencies, should establish harmonized procurement, funds-transfer, intellectual-property, and data-management policies that enable seamless collaboration across agencies and Manufacturing USA institutes. This effort should be undertaken in consultation with the U.S. Manufacturing Innovation Council, as appropriate, and aim for harmonized policies and processes by 2030.

Recommendation 4-3: By 2030, Congress should appropriate funding on par with comparable international programs to the Manufacturing USA institutes to create an interagency initiative that would competitively award dedicated funds to incentivize cross-institute collaboration by addressing grand challenges in manufacturing. A project source selection team should comprise representatives from the Manufacturing USA institute-sponsoring agencies (currently Departments of Commerce, Energy, and Defense) to ensure broad applicability across mission spaces and alignment with national manufacturing priorities.

Recommendation 4-4: The Advanced Manufacturing National Program Office should work with the Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) program to create a process by 2030 that ensures that these integrated packages of advanced manufacturing technologies developed by institutes are disseminated to MEPs nationwide for implementation by small and medium-sized manufacturers.

Recommendation 4-5: Within the next 2 years, the Advanced Manufacturing National Program Office, in coordination with the Interagency Council, should lead an interagency effort to develop a robust strategy specifically focused on digital manufacturing across the Manufacturing USA network.

Recommendation 4-6: Within the next 2 years, the Advanced Manufacturing National Program Office, in coordination with the Interagency Council, should create a multiprong strategy that enhances use of the Manufacturing USA network’s capabilities across federal and state government agencies and small and medium-sized manufacturers (SMMs), including coordination with the Manufacturing Extension Partnership network, and provides resources as to how agencies and SMMs can work with Manufacturing USA institutes to enhance interagency engagement.

Recommendation 4-7: Within the next 2 years, the Department of Energy (DOE) should work with national laboratories to explore modifying management and operations contractual agreements to be compatible with Manufacturing USA institute agreement terms and conditions. Additionally, DOE should make funding available to national laboratories for the specific purpose of collaborating with institutes on DOE priority projects.

Recommendation 5-1: By 2030, Congress should provide sustained dedicated funding above current appropriations to establish business development offices at each Manufacturing USA institute to support commercialization, scale-up, and regional ecosystem integration for entrepreneurs and small and medium-sized manufacturers, working in coordination with regional economic development organizations and federal manufacturing programs.

Recommendation 6-1: By 2030, Manufacturing USA institutes should adopt a broad range of programs to address workforce education needs in advanced manufacturing, based on best-practice programs developed by various institutes, including to develop advanced manufacturing curricula, develop online education, create advanced manufacturing credentials, support workforce education delivery, collaborate across institutes, and broaden the manufacturing talent base. These broadened programs should be executed in collaboration with regional stakeholders, such as area companies and education institutions, and should include efforts to reach small manufacturers with workforce education advisory services and training programs.

Recommendation 6-2: Within approximately 2 years, agencies sponsoring the Manufacturing USA institutes working with the Advanced Manufacturing National Program Office should develop a unified advanced manufacturing curriculum available online that combines and unifies curricula and materials developed by institutes along with successful education and workforce development programs. Supporting this, they should develop an outcomes measurement and a credentialing system coordinated with industry and aligned with Manufacturing USA workforce metrics and programs.

Recommendation 6-3: By 2030, Manufacturing USA institutes should implement new technologist curricula, such as the Department of Defense’s Industrial Base and Sustainment–funded pilot projects. They should work toward implementing it in cooperation with regional partners in industry and community colleges and, if deemed appropriate, incorporate it into the recommended Manufacturing Academy.

Recommendation 6-4: The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and the Domestic Policy Council should convene a cross-agency workforce education project and implement within the next 2 years a strategy to coordinate efforts across agencies to enhance Manufacturing USA institute and other agency manufacturing education programs. This would include relevant programs at the Manufacturing USA institute-sponsoring agencies (currently Departments of Commerce, Energy, and Defense), as well as at the Departments of Labor and Education and the National Science Foundation’s Advanced Technological Education Program.

Recommendation 6-5: Given the need for apprenticeships in manufacturing, and especially to enable the scale-up of advanced manufacturing, within the next 2 years, Manufacturing USA institutes should become active promoters and enablers of manufacturing apprenticeships as part of their regional engagements.

Recommendation 6-6: A collaboration across Manufacturing USA institutes enabled by the proposed Interagency Council and the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s Advanced Manufacturing National Program Office should build out a robust online Manufacturing Academy portal of advanced manufacturing online courses and programs. By 2030, the online portal should include simulations, virtual reality, and augmented reality material, developed by Manufacturing USA institutes. The online portal should include materials and links from other verified sources, as well as new material.