Hopes Are High That Federal Money Will Lead To R&D Site
In Ohio, a federally subsidized manufacturing innovation center will soon be up and running, helping more than 60 companies, colleges and other organizations collaborate on research and product development with a specific focus on bringing three-dimensional printing technologies to market.
Massachusetts had a horse in the race last year for the $30 million in federal funding, which ultimately went to the city of Youngstown, a former steel center featured in a Bruce Springsteen song about manufacturing's decline.
Brian Gilmore, head of public affairs for the Associated Industries of Massachusetts, said AIM wrote a letter in support of a consortium of New England companies and colleges wanting to establish the center at UMass Amherst.
“It was an election year and it went to Ohio,” Gilmore said. “Go figure.”
But hope is not lost; the Bay State can still become a home to a similar site, according to James Capistran, director of the UMass Innovation Institute at the state system's Amherst campus.
In fact, Capistran is quite confident the Bay State will be a top contender for one of the several other centers President Obama has ordered to be funded from the budgets of several major agencies, including the Defense and Energy departments.
“We are going to get one of these pilot centers,” Capistran said. “I guarantee it.”
Focus On Micro- Or Nano-Manufacturing?
Capistran said a micro/nano manufacturing focus would be a good for the region, with research in the field ongoing in such locales as Amherst, Lowell and in Cambridge at MIT.
Though $30 million for 60 companies in Ohio might not sound like much, Capistran said the money could help fill a real gap that in Massachusetts — commercializing research.
“The focus is on translation,” he said. “Even with the National Science Foundation, which is very basic in nature, they would like you to explain the pathway to commercialization.”
Many a technological advance has died in the area between academia and industry, which Capistran referred to as “death valley.”
“There's a lot of technology at universities that's not getting out there,” he said.
Obama has asked Congress to fund up to 15 hubs around the country. But with Congress locked in a fight over spending, if and when that money might come is uncertain, said U.S. Rep. James McGovern, who expressed frustration over the current financial fight, highlighted by the recent $85 billion in mandated “sequestration” cuts.
“I have no idea what's going to happen in Congress tomorrow, let alone one year from now or two years from now,” McGovern, D-Worcester, said. “But there needs to be an understanding that investment is important. Without it, some of the support programs that have helped the (Massachusetts Manufacturing Extension Partnership) and others up to this point wouldn't have occurred.”
Jack Healy, director of operations at Worcester-based Massachusetts Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MassMEP), said manufacturers are collaborating like never before on creating a pipeline of skilled manufacturing workers to step in after an impending retirement boom in the sector.
But research and development can be a bit trickier, Healy said.
“Collaborative research has really been a missing element in American manufacturing,” Healy said.
That's largely because of concerns over intellectual property and giving up a perceived competitive edge, he said.
But he's a bit skeptical about Obama's manufacturing hub efforts. R&D is vital, but it's not entirely clear how putting a bunch of manufacturers in a facility together would work out.
“Incubators, for the most part, have ended up as cheap space,” he said. “I don't know that these are going to have a lot of legs.”
Healy said many manufacturers, like machine shops, largely rely on their equipment suppliers to refine or improve the machinery they use.
That's certainly the case for Spencer-based FLEXcon, which makes pressure-sensitive, adhesive-coated films for a variety of industries.
James Casey, the company's vice president of technology, said suppliers are one of the first groups manufacturers look to in order to solve a problem or come up with a new process or product.
“There's a commercial relationship with vendors and there's a trust and a knowledge of the workings of those companies,” Casey said.
But FLEXcon also works with universities, including UMass, WPI and even the University of Minnesota, to develop “precompetitive technologies” that it hopes to one day bring to market, he added.
WPI: Willing Partner
Stephen Flavin, associate provost and dean of professional education at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, likes the idea of R&D collaborations. WPI has focused on putting research and theory into industry practice for much of its existence and would welcome a chance to be a part of a research hub, he said.
“We would absolutely be excited and willing to participate,” Flavin said. “In order for us to be successful in some opportunities, we need to partner.”
WPI designs custom training programs for manufacturing employees and companies, and collaborates with both machine operators and life sciences companies through its HAAS Technical Education Center and Biomanufacturing Education and Training Center.
The same goes for manufacturers, said Capistran, of the UMass innovation center.
He thinks concerns over IP are a bit overblown. The center has worked both one-on-one with manufacturers and in groups. Some shops remain secretive, but many more have opened up in recent years, understanding that working together can be a way to keep the industry alive, he said.
He added that UMass is trying to be flexible with its licensing and IP agreements, which are custom tailored to the situation, he said. If a company funds research and brings its IP to the table, it will largely get to keep the rights to it, he said. The school might get the rights to uses outside the company's application area.
Just 18 months old, the innovation center brought in $14.3 million in industry-related research last year, Capistran said.
And it's working to boost its relationship with the rest of the state, including Worcester, through a Mass-MEP-funded liaison who understands the research going on at the university and can talk to manufacturers in this area about potential collaborations.
Capistran said there's plenty of potential for manufacturers small and large, but he has advice for those who think they could benefit from R&D collaboration: First, look into what sort of research colleges are doing. If it seems like a fit, it's important to understand that the project will require the manufacturer to make time for one or more staff members to commit to the collaborations, and to understand that the project will take time.
“This doesn't happen overnight,” he said.
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