Strengthening American Manufacturing by Charles W. Wessner

Author:Charles W. Wessner
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: ebook
Publisher: The National Academies Press
Published: 2013-10-10T00:00:00+00:00

Panel III

Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises and High-Value Manufacturing

Moderator:

Jamieson Brown

Subcommittee on Science and Innovation

House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology

Mr. Brown noted that members of Congress were especially interested in learning how programs like MEP can maximize their effectiveness in the current budget environment. The meeting so far, he said, had proven valuable in describing how the MEP program can leverage both expertise and funding across agencies. The MEP does an excellent job, he said, of disseminating new technologies and processes to SMMs.

Support for small firms and manufacturers create jobs and new products. Their greater flexibility and greater tolerances for risk allow them to innovate successfully. But, he said, many people think that innovation and efficiency displaces jobs. In fact, studies have shown that over time, innovation creates more jobs that are more productive and higher-paying. “I think that message is often lost,” he said, “and I think it’s imperative for supporters of advanced manufacturing innovation to get that message out.”

The fact that innovation creates higher-paying and more productive jobs, he said, has important implications for federal funding policy. A related point, made by an earlier speaker, is that innovation suffers when manufacturing moves offshore and removes the “side result of continuous learning.” He introduced the next speaker, Dr. Gregory Tassey, as an economist one who has studied these issues and would summarize some of the benefits of keeping manufacturing jobs in the United States.

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