GAITHERSBURG, MD – The National Institute of Standards and Technology announced a competition for grants to support new or existing industry-driven consortia to develop research plans that address challenges impeding the growth of advanced manufacturing in the US.

NIST’s Advanced Manufacturing Technology Consortia (AMTech) Program anticipates awarding $4 million in two-year planning grants in fiscal year 2013.

Grants will range between about $250,000 and $500,000, subject to the availability of funds.

Funded by Congress this fiscal year, AMTech will spur research on long-term industrial research needs. The program aims to eliminate barriers to manufacturing and promote domestic development of an underpinning technology infrastructure.

AMTech is designed to address an economically damaging weakness in the nation’s so-called innovation ecosystem, an issue identified by the National Science and Technology Council, the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, and other bodies.

According to the NSTC, there is a gap between R&D activities and the deployment of technological innovations in the domestic production of goods, which is contributing, for example, to the growing trade deficit in advanced-technology products.

For more information, visit http://www.nist.gov/director/amtech-072413.cfm.