DOE Renews Partnership with IACMI, Furthering Commitment to Advancing Composites Manufacturing
IACMI becomes first Clean Energy Institute to be renewed
“Today, I am thrilled to announce DOE is extending our partnership with IACMI with a continued investment over another five years, with a first-year investment of $6 million,” said Secretary Jennifer Granholm with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) in taped remarks on April 11 at a packed IACMI collaboration facility in Knoxville, Tenn. “The ideas, the partnerships, the passion blooming throughout IACMI has made it an innovation incubator for some of America’s sharpest minds and most creative thinkers.”
“We’re in a race to decarbonize our economy and winning is all about speed and scale. We have to produce energy technologies faster, more efficiently, and at lower cost. And we have to do it at every stage of the supply chain, down the building blocks: composites,” Sec. Granholm added.
IACMI becomes the first clean energy institute to be renewed by DOE. This investment will be used to further technological R&D and accelerate commercialization in the domestic composites manufacturing sector. This federal funding builds upon initial institute funding of $70 million from DOE and over $130 million from IACMI’s member partners.
|
|
|
Speakers: Critical Partnerships Help Drive
IACMI’s Collaborative Spirit
Tuesday’s event featured remarks from IACMI CEO Chad Duty, Acting Director of the Advanced Materials and Manufacturing Technologies Office at DOE Steve McKnight, UT System President Randy Boyd, UTK Chancellor Donde Plowman, ORNL Deputy for Science and Technology Susan Hubbard, and Purdue Technical Area Director R. Byron Pipes.
Chad Duty, IACMI CEO – “Composites have the power to improve everyday lives. Composite technology will continue to play a crucial role as we develop more sustainable solutions to our country’s energy, transportation and infrastructure challenges. DOE’s continued investment in IACMI will accelerate our progress toward achieving these goals.”
Steve McKnight, Acting Director of the Advanced Materials & Manufacturing Technologies Office at DOE – “We’re in a race for time. We’re in a race for our planet, we’re in a race against other countries from an economic and national security perspective. We firmly believe that synergy of industry and research is key to accelerating the latest innovations. We are renewing IACMI because they have proven themselves on four fronts: relevance, scale, results, and an innovation ecosystem. We don’t take this renewal lightly; we are putting our trust in you. The future is now, let’s get to work.”
Randy Boyd, UT President – “Back in 2015 when IACMI was started, I worked in economic development in Tennessee. IACMI requested state funding, $3 million for 5 years, $15 million total. Looking back, it seems like a no-brainer, but at the time, we didn’t typically invest in research. But the things that sold it were all the strong partnerships and that Colorado, Indiana, Ohio, and Michigan were also investing. There was the promise that with this technology, it would create jobs and it did.”
Donde Plowman, UTK Chancellor – “IACMI has been such a tremendous partner for the University of Tennessee in developing solutions that make life and lives better in Tennessee and beyond. We want to be driving innovation in composites manufacturing through our research that will address so many real-world needs. What we are celebrating is the commitment we all have to keep pushing the boundaries of knowledge and to transform our country’s energy, mobility, and manufacturing industries.”
Susan Hubbard, ORNL Deputy for Science and Technology – “At Oak Ridge National Laboratory, this is our 80th year. Eight great decades of fundamental discoveries. We are super excited about this next phase for IACMI, to use our expertise and our facilities to accelerate many aspects that are so important for a clean energy economy. IACMI is really well positioned to overcome many of the challenges that are facing U.S. manufacturing and to advance the national goals of decarbonization.”
Byron Pipes, Purdue University – “Since 2014, I’ve connected with Chad Duty and Craig Blue at ORNL with their advancements in composites. I remember they showed me 3D printing with carbon fiber; it was a brand-new idea that originated here. Dale Brosius was brought in because of his extremely powerful industry knowledge to be IACMI’s Chief Commercialization Officer. IACMI connects the entire composites ecosystem. We bring value when we work effectively together.”
|
Ribbon-cutting Ceremony
for IACMI Collaboration Facility
Steve McKnight, the Acting Director of the Advanced Materials & Manufacturing Technologies Office at DOE, cut the ribbon on a new IACMI Collaboration Facility in Knoxville. The facility serves as an innovative incubator and collaboration space for IACMI members, faculty, and students, in connection with the Fibers and Composites Manufacturing Facility (FCMF) at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. It supports research of advanced composites as well as workforce development and composites education for K-graduate level. The space will help launch IACMI to a larger facility in 2024, Innovation South at UT Research Park at Cherokee Farm. Innovation South will include a 65,000-square-foot composites laboratory under the leadership of IACMI Chief Technology Officer Uday Vaidya.
|
IACMI: An Ecosystem of Innovation, Driving Commerical Outcomes and Economic Growth
Since its establishment in 2015, IACMI has emerged as a leader in advanced composite design, manufacturing, technical innovation, and workforce development. During this eight-year period, IACMI has:
- Managed more than 60 collaborative and industry-led technical projects, representing more than $200 million in R&D investment
- Catalyzed over 25 new composite-based products to commercialization
- Supported the creation of 3,000 jobs at composite materials and parts manufacturers
- Spurred investment of $75 million in five states for R&D and Scale Up Facilities
Since 2015, IACMI, state economic development organizations, and DOE have invested in a shared infrastructure that collectively delivers a breadth and scale of open-access composites manufacturing R&D capabilities that stand unmatched in the U.S. These facility and infrastructure investments have been led by IACMI’s core innovation partners in Colorado, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, and Tennessee. Examples of state-of-the-art scale-up facilities include:
- Manufacturing Demonstration Facility at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL)
- Carbon Fiber Technology Facility at ORNL
- Fibers and Composites Manufacturing Facility at University of Tennessee, Knoxville
- Laboratory for Systems Integrity and Reliability at Vanderbilt University
- The Composites Laboratory at the University of Dayton Research Institute
- The Composites Manufacturing & Simulation Center at Purdue University
- The IACMI Scale-Up Research Facility (SuRF), managed by Michigan State University
- The Composites Manufacturing Education and Technology Facility (CoMET) at National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL)
|
|
|
Follow IACMI on social media!
IACMI - The Composites Institute
2360 Cherahala Blvd.
Knoxville, TN 37932
Email preferences | Unsubscribe
When you unsubscribe, you are removed from all email communications related to voting opportunities, membership renewals and invoices, projects and working groups, newsletters, and events.
|
|
|
|
