FY2024 Manufacturing USA Institute – AI for Resilient Manufacturing

This NOFO is a call for applications to establish and operate a Manufacturing USA institute focused on the use of artificial intelligence (AI) to strengthen the resilience of U.S. manufacturers (referred to throughout this NOFO as the AI MFG USA institute). Through this competition, NIST expects to select an applicant or applicant team most capable of establishing and leading a public-private partnership that will integrate expertise in AI, manufacturing processes, and supply chain networks to conduct applied R&D projects that address industry-wide needs for innovation leading to greater resilience of manufacturing systems. The AI MFG USA institute is also expected to cultivate the development of a world-leading workforce needed to deploy institute-developed AI technologies into industrial use. The award will provide financial resources to establish the AI MFG USA institute, conduct startup activities and operate a national effort to accelerate manufacturing innovation and increase U.S. global competitiveness.

AI for Resilient Manufacturing Institute. Resilience may be defined as the ability of a given system to prepare for and adapt to unexpected events; to quickly adjust to sudden disruptive changes that negatively affect performance; to continue functioning during a disruption (sometimes referred to as “robustness”); and to recover quickly to its pre-disruption state or a more desirable state.8 Adoption of AI has the potential to strengthen resilience of U.S. manufacturing through improvements in productivity and efficiency, job quality, worker safety and quality control systems, while reducing downtime for predictive maintenance, waste and defects. AI adoption has the potential for efficient utilization of other digital technologies in optimizing product design and process flow, and energy management. Furthermore, adoption of AI technologies can drive greater resilience for manufacturing supply chain networks and increase visibility of domestic suppliers.

The institute funded pursuant to this NOFO will conduct applied R&D projects and establish employer-led sectoral partnerships to develop accessible, effective, scalable training resources and credentialling pathways for the skilled workforce needed to move innovation into industrial practice. The work of the institute will also support the growth of an AI service provision infrastructure that will provide focused AI solutions to manufacturers by leveraging manufacturing data at national scale. Through these initiatives, the work of the institute will boost resilience to the benefit of individual companies, workers, and the overall U.S. manufacturing base.

Cost-share Requirements: Non-federal cost-share is required. This program requires cost-share (financial support) from non-federal sources in an amount at least equal to the amount of federal funding over the lifetime of the award (i.e., 50% or more of the total funding for the Institute must come from non-federal sources).

Application Instructions

Please submit:

1. A one‐page letter of intent with a description of proposed aims and approach.
2. If the final application requires a diversity statement or statement of broader impacts, please summarize your plans to address the specific requirements on an additional page.
3. CV (not biosketch) of the PI including past grant funding.

to limitedsubs@uw.edu by 5:00 PM Wednesday, August 21, 2024. Concept papers signed by OSP are due to the sponsor 9/30/2024, so you will need to have your materials in to the Office of Sponsored Programs by 9/19/2024 if given the go‐ahead by the Limited Submissions review committee. If invited by the sponsor to submit a full proposal, that is due 1/23/2025.