Interagency Working Group on Manufacturing - R&D (IWGRD)

The 2004 Commerce Department report, Manufacturing in America, recommended the creation of the Interagency Working Group (IWG) on Manufacturing Research and Development (R&D) to identify and integrate R&D requirements and to develop strategies for the Federal Government’s manufacturing R&D programs.

The IWG on Manufacturing R&D reports to the National Science and Technology Council (NSTC), Committee on Technology, and is currently chaired by the Director of the Manufacturing Engineering Laboratory at the National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST).  Its membership includes representatives from 15 federal agencies.
*Click here for a list of IWG member agencies and links to those agencies.

Objectives of the IWG on Manufacturing R&D include:

    Propose policy recommendations for manufacturing R&D.
    Facilitate interagency program planning and budgeting, collaboration, coordination, and leverage.
    Review agency priorities and technical issues for federally-funded manufacturing R&D.
    Promote communications among the government, private sector, and academia on R&D requirements and programs.

The IWG on Manufacturing R&D initially selected three technology priority areas to form the basis for a coordinated, multi-agency focus on manufacturing R&D. These topics, which were presented to the public during a public forum held by the IWG in March 2005, are each aligned with an existing National Initiative.

• Nanomanufacturing
• Intelligent & Integrated Manufacturing
• Manufacturing for the Hydrogen Economy

The IWG is currently developing a report on manufacturing R&D that further articulates the Federal Government’s role in each of the above areas and that will be published by the NSTC Committee on Technology (COT).  The IWG expects to secure the COT’s approval for and release of the report to the President and Congress in 2006. 

For more information regarding the NSTC IWG on Manufacturing R&D, please contact the IWG Executive Secretary, Mr. David C. Stieren of the NIST Manufacturing Engineering Laboratory, at david.stieren@nist.gov.