U.S. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
AMMTO Celebrates Manufacturing Month on the Office's First Year Anniversary

October marks the biggest holiday of the year for the Advanced Materials and Manufacturing Technologies Office (AMMTO) - Manufacturing Month! Our team has been hard at work investing in cutting-edge research, development, demonstration, and deployment (RDD&D) to advance energy-related materials and manufacturing technologies to increase domestic competitiveness and build a clean, decarbonized economy.

A lot has changed since our last Manufacturing Month celebration, when the legacy Advanced Manufacturing Office (AMO) reorganized into two offices with separate but aligned missions: AMMTO and our sister office, the Industry Efficiency and Decarbonization Office (IEDO). Both offices have been on a hiring spree, filling out newly created roles and vacancies alike. AMMTO has brought on three fellows and hired 27 employees this year, including myself, as its new Director.

Right now, we face an exciting moment in history to move the needle on technologies and projects that will help our nation achieve its clean energy goals.

AMMTO is Our Name, Investment in RDD&D is Our Game

With unprecedented investments in domestic manufacturing through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the CHIPS and Science Act, and the Inflation Reduction Act, DOE is poised to make America a global leader in clean energy manufacturing and innovation, and AMMTO has already played a critical role in ensuring that happens. 

In fact, just this year we launched a Critical Materials Collaborative that convenes key players across DOE, other government agencies, academia, and industry to accelerate the development of domestic critical material supply chains. We provided $45 million in federal funding to innovate and commercialize novel manufacturing processes and methods capable of producing large metallic components, such as wind turbines and hydropower, through advancements in large-scale 3D printing. We've announced a new cohort of innovators through our Lab-Embedded Entrepreneurship Program (LEEP), to develop next-generation technologies at the national laboratories that will help power a clean energy future that benefits all Americans. And, we've more than doubled industry commitment to over 50 companies and organizations from around 20 in 2022, to increase the energy efficiency of semiconductors by a factor of 1,000 over the next two decades through our Energy Efficiency Scaling for 2 Decades (EES2) national initiative.

These accomplishments are all in addition to renewing four key consortia: three Clean Energy Manufacturing Innovation Institutes; the Clean Energy Smart Manufacturing Innovation Institute (CESMII), PowerAmerica, and the Institute for Advanced Composites Manufacturing Innovation (IACMI), as well as the Critical Materials Innovation Hub (CMI Hub).

We are the Bridge Between Discovery and Deployment

What intrigues and inspires me about AMMTO is our place in the greater innovation ecosystem - we work hand-in-hand with other DOE offices, including other technical program offices within the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), the Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management (FECM), as well as newly established offices such as the Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations (OCED) and the Office of Manufacturing and Energy Supply Chains (MESC), on the entire clean energy manufacturing pipeline. The RDD&D we do in AMMTO helps catalyze follow-on investments and larger pilot demonstrations within those offices.

That is to say, AMMTO is the incubator of RDD&D that serves as the launchpad to commercialization and deployment on a greater scale.

We are uniquely positioned to serve as this connector because we've been laying the groundwork for decades. And now we're at a critical juncture to turn the tide on the crisis of climate change by accelerating our clean energy future with these innovative technologies. We're better equipped than ever before because of the investments we've made.

Measuring Success

Last year, through the National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) Subcommittee on Advanced Manufacturing (SAM), AMMTO worked across the government to shape the national manufacturing agenda by establishing the National Strategy for Advanced Manufacturing. The three interrelated goals of the Strategy are set to achieve the stated vision: For United States leadership in advanced manufacturing that will grow the economy, create quality jobs, enhance environmental sustainability, address climate change, strengthen supply chains, ensure national security, and improve healthcare. These three goals are intrinsically linked to the work we're doing at AMMTO, through our programs.

National Strategy for Advanced Manufacturing

1. Develop and implement advanced manufacturing technologies
2. Grow the advanced manufacturing workforce
3. Build resilience into manufacturing supply chains and ecosystems

AMMTO Programs

1. Next Generation Materials and Processes
2. Energy Technology Manufacturing and Workforce
3. Secure and Sustainable Materials

With the first of the four-year plan under our belts, we've made incredible progress on all three goals through our corresponding programs. I'd like to spotlight just one here, our multitopic funding opportunity, which provided $61 million to 31 projects across the nation working on RDD&D that will help combat the climate crisis, secure U.S. domestic supply chains, and position the country as a leader in the global clean energy economy. This announcement was unique in that the 31 selections included projects supporting the goals of each of our three AMMTO programs.

These investments will help make an impact on advanced manufacturing technologies while simultaneously augmenting the workforce and strengthening our manufacturing supply chains, doing it all with Energy Equity and Environmental Justice (EEEJ) top of mind.

Following the Biden Administration's lead in establishing the Justice40 Initiative, which directs 40 percent of the overall benefits of certain Federal investments to disadvantaged communities (DACs), AMMTO is engaging a representative and diverse group of stakeholders in a two-way conversation - to listen, learn, and make important decisions about our investments that will benefit all Americans.

One way we're bridging the divide between these historically underserved communities is through our investments in the MSI STEM Research & Development Consortium (MSRDC), which connects underrepresented groups from Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs) to the expertise, network, and resources at our Clean Energy Manufacturing Innovation Institutes.

It is vital that the future manufacturing workforce looks as diverse as America, and that it benefits all of us, including and especially those DACs disproportionately affected by climate change and the clean energy transition. We're championing inclusive decision-making and place-based solutions to empower underrepresented communities to have a voice in the future of manufacturing.

Looking to the Clean Energy Future

If this year's office motto was execution, next year will be all about driving strategic thought leadership so the RDD&D we support brings us closer to commercialization and largescale industry adoption. In particular, we'll be pushing ahead on making impact in a number of areas, including smart manufacturing, microelectronics, power electronics, critical materials, circular economy, and education and workforce development, among other areas critical to clean energy manufacturing.

AMMTO is poised to serve the nation on our collective journey to a clean, decarbonized economy and a strong, resilient manufacturing sector. We invite you to join us on this momentous mission to meet the manufacturing moment.