Manufacturing Workforce Development and Strengthening Manufacturing Supply Chains: What Can States Do?

America’s states are becoming increasingly fertile grounds for novel approaches to manufacturing and innovation policy. For instance, several states are developing their own “advanced manufacturing” strategies and many are developing sophisticated approaches to bolstering manufacturing workforce skills and positioning their enterprises to thrive in national and global supply chains. This virtual workshop will share best practices from the most-innovative U.S. states and explore ways advanced manufacturing in the United States could better scale through stronger state-level interactions with the Manufacturing USA Institutes, the Manufacturing Extension Partnership program, and other federal initiatives. The first panel will focus on manufacturing workforce policy considerations, while the second will focus on strengthening manufacturing supply chains.

ITIF hosted a two-part forum on innovative state-level manufacturing policies.

Introductory Remarks:

David Adler, Economics Author

Panel 1: Manufacturing Workforce Development

Moderator, Stephen Ezell, VP, Global Innovation Policy, ITIF

Farhad Vazehgoo, Acting Director of Advanced Manufacturing Programs at the Mass. Manufacturing Innovation Initiative (M2I2) and the MassTech Collaborative

Ira Moskowitz, Director, Advanced Robotics for Manufacturing Institute (ARM)

Amy Firestone, Vice President, Apprentice South Carolina

Michael Britt-Crane, Education and Workforce Development Lead, Department of Defense Manufacturing Technology (ManTech) Program

Panel 2: Strengthening Manufacturing Supply Chains - What Can States Do?

Moderator: Sue Helper, Professor, Case Western University

Phil Singerman, Former Associate Director for Innovation and Industry Services, NIST

Matt Watson, Senior Vice President, Empire State Development Division of Science, Technology, and Innovation

Phil Mintz, Director of the North Carolina MEP

Kevin Carr, CEO Florida Makes (the Florida MEP), and former national director of the federal MEP Program at Commerce

Berardino Barrata, Vice President, Projects + Engineering, MxD

Closing Remarks:

Bill Bonvillian, Former Director, MIT Washington Office