New Report Series Details Strategic Importance of Clean and Competitive Manufacturing in American Energy Innovation

Washington, DC – The U.S. manufacturing sector is not fully realizing the potential gains from innovation due to market and system failures and unfair foreign competition, according to the first installment of a new Technology Pillar Snapshot series released today by Clean Tomorrow.

This first report maps out how America can reclaim leadership in clean and competitive manufacturing. Manufacturing sits at the center of America’s most pressing priorities – national security, economic opportunity, affordability and decarbonization.

This inaugural series follows last year’s release of Re-Energizing America: Reclaiming American Leadership in Energy Innovation. Re-Energizing America set funding targets for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) for the next five years based on 10 technology pillars outlining areas of strategic importance for America’s energy system. This new series will break down each of the pillars to explore why they matter, where federal policy supports them and what policymakers can do to keep the United States ahead of the game.

“Clean and competitive manufacturing touches a wide range of sectors, and it is critical that we invest in innovation across industries,” said Claire C. Cody, co-author and senior innovation policy analyst at Clean Tomorrow. “Manufacturing innovation can lower costs and emissions while providing benefits for national security and the economy. When manufacturing succeeds, we all win – and the decisions we make now will determine whether we reap these benefits.”

The report provides five key recommendations for how future policy should expand and sharpen its support for manufacturing innovation:

• Sustain and expand federal incentives for private sector investment in manufacturing innovation. Federal policies should help manufacturing firms build innovation capabilities through domestic investment.
• Strengthen industry-government partnerships. DOE grants and user facilities that incentivize national lab, academic and industrial teams to work together on projects can help to unify the innovation agenda in key fields.
• Bridge the capital gap for scaling innovative production. Scale-up is the most capital-intensive phase of the innovation process, and U.S. manufacturers moving projects through it are often at a disadvantage compared to global competitors.
• Help small and medium manufacturers (SMMs) narrow the productivity gap. Federal agencies, working collaboratively with state governments, universities and private sector experts, can provide technical and other forms of assistance that give SMMs confidence that investing in new technologies will pay off.
• Foster regional industrial clusters. Manufacturing innovation thrives when dense networks of firms, skilled workers and supporting institutions in interlinked industries congregate in compact geographical areas.