NAMII
The National Additive Manufacturing Innovation Institute (NAMII) and the National Center for Defense Manufacturing and Machining (NCDMM) have announced their second call for additive manufacturing-applied research and development projects from NAMII members.
NAMII's second call for projects to come forward comes just a fortnight after marking its first anniversary, which saw the organisation reflect on what has been an industrious, high-energy 12 months punctuated by notable achievements for the public-private partnership that is currently 80 members strong and counting. This second project call positions NAMII well for yet another year of success.
NAMII will provide $9 million (£5.81 million) for multiple awards as part of the initiative. The Project Call Request for Proposal is limited to five technical topic areas with subset focus areas. Proposals can address one or more technical topic areas, but must address all evaluation criteria, which are available via the NAMII website.
“Today's 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," said NAMII Director and NCDMM Vice-President Ed Morris. “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," continued Mr Morris. "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.”
All proposals are due by Friday October 31st and submissions must be presented via email to technical contact Rob Gorham, NAMII Deputy Director - Technology Development, National Center for Defense Manufacturing and Machining, rob.gorham@NCDMM.org. Proposals should be emailed with the subject title "NAMII PROJECT PROPOSAL".
Mr Gorham commented: "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 anticipated start date for the second set of projects is January 2014.
