News

PEIC gets $500k NIST Grant for Advanced Manufacturing Technology

May 14, 2014 by Jeff Shepard

The Power Electronics Industry Collaborative (PEIC) has been awarded a $500,000, two-year grant from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) for the Advanced Manufacturing Technology Consortia (AMTech) Program to fund their proposal titled "Strengthening the Domestic Power Electronics Ecosystem". The AMTech program provides support to industry-driven consortia to develop plans that address challenges impeding advanced manufacturing in the United States.

Funds provided through the AMTech program will help develop an in-depth understanding of the manufacturing and innovation capabilities of the nation’s fragmented and diverse power electronics industry, and produce consensus-based technology roadmaps to guide cooperative, pre-competitive research and workforce development efforts.

“We couldn’t be more thrilled that the NIST has selected PEIC for this opportunity,” said PEIC Board President, Mark Bellinger. “The AMTech Program will enable PEIC to conduct a thorough analysis of industry supply and value chains, ultimately strengthening the domestic power electronics ecosystem.”

Other nations throughout the world have made significant investments to advance power electronics technologies and products that will have a lasting impact on a wide variety of markets and industries, including transportation, consumer electronics, energy storage, and renewable energy. The United States currently trails other nations in developing the ecosystem necessary to support competitive manufacturing of power electronics for the fast-growing global market.

The PEIC, a national consortium of original equipment manufacturers, suppliers, researchers, and other United States power electronics industry stakeholders, will address challenges facing the industry by: Convening the United States power electronics industry to assess and document the industry’s current status and competitive position; Analyzing how technology and policy drivers could provide opportunity for United States leadership in power electronics innovation and manufacturing; and seeking consensus on detailed technology, product, and policy roadmaps that will enable industry stakeholders to cooperate on pre-competitive research and on achieving common market, policy, and workforce development goals