Obama announces new measures to spur manufacturing in US

Aiming to make the US innovation and manufacturing hub of the world, President Barack Obama today announced a slew of measures and executive actions to spur growth in these sectors.
As a result of the previous measures taken by the Obama Administration, more than 7,00,000 new jobs have been added to the manufacturing sector since February 2010.
Aimed at building on the momentum and making US the innovation and manufacturing hub of the world, the new steps were focused on enabling innovation, securing the talent pipeline and improving the business climate, the White House said.
Prominent among the executive actions was investing more than USD 300 million in emerging manufacturing technologies critical for US competitiveness.

Other major steps were to spur innovation by providing manufacturers access to new and expanded state-of-the-art facilities like those at national labs, laun new tools and a five-year initial investment to support innovative small manufacturers in the supply chain.
Obama was scheduled to meet President's Council of Advisers on Science and Technology (PCAST)-an advisory group of the Nation's leading scientists and engineers-later in the day.

The council of advisers is chaired by Andrew Liveris, president, chairman, and CEO of the Dow Chemical Company, and Rafael Reif, president of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Indian American Ajit Manocha, Senior Adviser, GLOBALFOUNDRIES is one of its members.

Noting that manufacturing sector is once again adding jobs and opening new factories at its fastest rate in two decades, the council of advisers in a report to the President said the US has long thrived as a result of its ability to manufacture goods and sell them to global markets.
Manufacturing drives knowledge production and innovation in the US by supporting two-thirds of private sector research and development and by employing the vast majority of US scientists, engineers, and technicians to invent and produce new products.
Among others, it recommended to launch a national campaign to change the image of manufacturing, and support National Manufacturing Day's efforts to showcase real careers in today's manufacturing.

"Unlike services and software, manufacturing requires unique capital that often cannot be rapidly brought on line or redeployed for other uses.
"Long time lines, higher technology risk, and large capital requirements combine to create a risk profile unacceptable to many investors," the council said.