§278r Collaborative Manufacturing Research Pilot Grants

Summary

The Director must run one pilot competition to give grants to partnerships that include at least one manufacturing company and one nonindustry partner. Grants are competitive and peer-reviewed and will fund applied research to create new manufacturing processes, techniques, or materials that improve U.S. manufacturing performance, productivity, and competitiveness and help partners build lasting collaborations. Each grant lasts 3 years. Each grant may pay no more than one-third of a partnership’s costs, and no more than an additional one-third may come from other federal sources. Applications must be submitted when and how the Director requires and must say how each partner will take part, what research will be done, and how it will help U.S. manufacturing. In choosing winners, the Director will consider the project’s broad impact, its novelty and scientific/technical strength, and the applicants’ ability to carry it out, and will try to spread awards across different industry sectors and firm sizes.