Garvey, Spiegel Testify for Creation of Innovation Hubs
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – Mike Garvey, president of M-7 Technologies, added his voice Wednesday to the call for creating a network of innovation hubs modeled on the National Additive Manufacturing Innovation Institute here.
Garvey spoke with reporters in advance of his testimony yesterday before the Senate Commerce Committee on U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown’s legislation to establish such networks.
Brown introduced the Revitalize American Manufacturing and Innovation Act of 2013 with U.S. Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo.
Blunt, who Brown brought on board as a co-sponsor, “knows that what this can do for Youngstown and the whole state of Ohio can also do for St. Louis and his whole state of Missouri,” Brown said.
Also offering testimony Wednesday were Eric Spiegel, CEO of Siemens Corp. and a Youngstown native, and U.S. Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker.
During a March visit to NAMII, recently rebranded as America Makes, Brown outlined the bill hat would create a national network of advanced manufacturing hubs by leveraging local expertise. The network would be funded by $600 million saved from spending cuts in the Commerce Department's budget.
The proposed public-private partnerships would be like a teaching hospital, Brown said. “The center of it is doing innovation and research and enhancing people’s skills, and out of that grows more economic activity in inventions and innovations,” he remarked. America Makes would provide a “roadmap” aimed at making the United States the world leader in advanced manufacturing, he added.
“We all know that in Ohio manufacturing’s been a ticket to the middle class, but for too long Washington has made choices” – such as bad trade deals, poor enforcement of trade laws, an unfair tax system and not focusing on innovation and technology -- “that leave manufacturing behind,” Brown said.
Added Garvey, once basic research is completed, usually in a national laboratory or at a research university, an entrepreneur attempting to translate that technology to a commercial application in many cases lacks the money, equipment or people “or possibly all three” to do so successfully. Garvey’s M-7 Technologies is a member of America Makes.
“Because of that lack of resources, tremendous amounts of valuable technology never make it to the market. So it’s like leaving the baby at the door,” Garvey said.
America Makes has 82 member organizations that contribute total annual dues of $3.2 million. Its first project call resulted in funding for six projects for a total value of $10 million plus an anticipated commercial value of $200 million and the creation or retention of 700 jobs, Garvey said.
That allocation represents less than 10% of the funds for the center, Garvey pointed out. "So you can see what kind of impact this center will have on an industry that is projected to grow between 25% and 35% a year for the next 10 years,” he said.
One of the benefits of an organization like America Makes is the relationships it creates, the M-7 CEO added. Garvey cited a collaboration with M-7 that resulted in technology to be installed on machine tools that, if it works as expected, will compress the time to manufacture a Boeing 787 Dreamliner by 800 production hours. “That’s a huge competitive strategic advantage for Boeing moving forward in their competition with Airbus,” he said.
Following the hearing. U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan, D-13 Ohio, issued a statement commending the committee for highlighting manufacturing’s vital role in the economy, and hearing the testimony of Garvey and Spiegel.
Manufacturing represents about 12% of U.S. gross domestic product, comprises two-thirds of total U.S. goods and services exports, and “has propelled Youngstown to being one of the top international trade economies in the United States,” said Ryan, founder and chairman of the House Manufacturing Caucus.
Copyright 2013 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
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