America Makes announces four project calls totaling $2.1M

America Makes announces four new project calls which will accelerate the adoption of additive manufacturing (AM) and offer a new way for the supply chain to engage in the Institute. Several actionable focus areas are aligned to each project call including materials data, process monitoring, data management, education and workforce development, and AM for hypersonic applications. (Hypersonic project concepts are up first, due Aug. 28, 2020, full proposals due Oct. 12, 2020.)

“We are extremely excited about these four project calls as they speak to the core of what America Makes does as an institute – convenes, coordinates, and catalyzes the AM community,” said America Makes Executive Director John Wilczynski. “This announcement defines a significant opportunity to build stronger collaborative relationships between our members and stakeholders and allows us to address supply chain needs previously unexplored by the Institute.”

Each project call has a unique set of topics and submission requirements. Further details on them can be found at https://www.americamakes.us/project-calls/.

• The Open Project Call will leverage collaboration and perspectives from the existing America Makes membership, working groups, and Roadmap Advisory Group (RMAG). The goal for this project call is to create actionable focus areas to address the needs of the membership and its stakeholders.
• AM for Hypersonics Project Call will accelerate the maturation of additively manufactured high temperature metals which offer potential to impact cost, performance, and lead time for hypersonic capabilities. AM has been identified as key to timely fielding of hypersonic capabilities and addressing shortfalls of traditional manufacturing processes which are often costly, low-yield, and labor intensive.
• Member Driven Rapid Innovation Call will seek to address immediate and readily actionable needs identified by America Makes members. The Rapid Innovation Call will allow the Institute an agile framework to adapt to the evolving challenges of the supply chain via direct input from the membership.
• Government Driven Rapid Innovation Call will follow the same process as the Member Driven Rapid Innovation Call, except it will gather needs from government stakeholders.