President Barack Obama announced a $70M million federal award Monday to the Smart Manufacturing Leadership Coalition SMLC, an industry-led national non-profit, to create a nationwide Smart Manufacturing Innovation Institute. The Institute, which will include UC Berkeley’s involvement, will fuel industry growth and innovation across the state of California and nationwide with more than $140 million in public-private investment geared toward developing advanced manufacturing technology and a supporting workforce and education pipeline.
 
ME Professors Paul Wright, Tarek Zohdi and the late David Dornfeld have been leading UC Berkeley’s partnership and involvement with the proposal. UC Berkeley, in partnership with MANEX, will be one of the California Regional Center’s delivery centers, executing on key training, outreach and R&D project implementation for the Northern California region. UC Berkeley serves as a critical partner bringing expertise and innovation to the region.
 
The Clean Energy Smart Manufacturing Innovation Institute CESMII will be an industry-led non-profit organization headquartered in Los Angeles, California with networked regional centers across California, Washington, New York, North Carolina and Texas. The Institute will work across business, workforce and technical focus areas, leveraging each region’s unique industrial environments.  It will be the ninth institute awarded under the National Network of Manufacturing Institutes initiative. The winning coalition brings together a consortium of nearly 200 partners from across academia, industry, and non-profits—hailing from more than thirty states—to spur advances in smart sensors and digital process controls that can radically improve the efficiency of U.S. advanced manufacturing.
 
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