A year on from the establishment of the US’ National Additive Manufacturing Innovation Institute (NAMII) and the organization, driven by the National Center for Defense Manufacturing and Machining (NCDMM), has announced its second call for additive manufacturing (AM) applied research and development projects from NAMII members, now 80 strong. NAMII will provide $9 million in funding for multiple awards for projects in five key focus areas. Proposals can address one or more technical topics, but must address all evaluation criteria. The five key areas are:
I. Design for Additive Manufacturing
II. Additive Manufacturing Materials
III. Process and Equipment
IV. Qualification and Certification
V. Knowledgebase Development
According to NAMII Director and NCDMM Vice President Ed Morris: the “announcement of NAMII’s second call for projects is the accumulation of months of focused work and in-depth analysis on two fronts that are intrinsically linked: The creation of a formal, member-driven project call process and the development of a National Additive Manufacturing Roadmap, our technology investment strategy. Both initiatives originated from NAMII’s efforts to capture the voice of our community, beginning in April with our initial Program Management Review (PMR) meeting, continuing at our RAPID appearance in June, and progressing throughout a series of NAMII member-only workshops held in July.
“The input we gathered across the board was invaluable. As a result, NAMII now has a robust project call process in place that can be leveraged for all future calls. It will also drive the ongoing evolution of a very timely, accurate, and forward-looking Roadmap. Together, the process and Roadmap enabled us to identify a comprehensive set of priorities — needs, gaps, and opportunities — within our industry. NAMII is addressing those priorities with this second call for applied research and development projects. I look forward to receiving an influx of submissions from NAMII members.”
With the release of this second project call, NAMII believes it is well positioned for another productive and successful second year ahead.
Rob Gorham, NAMII Deputy Director – Technology Development added: “From the PMR meetings to RAPID and most recently, at a series of engaging and collaborative workshops facilitated by NAMII, we remain diligent in all our efforts to empower our members and community and to prioritize their needs. NAMII is incredibly proud and excited to release such a community-driven, second project call that will fund cross-cutting additive manufacturing and 3D printing projects with the potential to produce some big outcomes.”
The NAMII Project RFP process is open to all organizations as long as they are partnered with a NAMII member and the NAMII member submits the proposal on behalf of that project partnership/collaboration as the lead proposer. An email notice of intent to submit from the lead proposer of the project team is requested no later than Friday, September 27, 2013. The anticipated start date for the second set of projects is January 2014.
Source: NAMII
