Workshop: Aligning AI and U.S. Advanced Manufacturing Competitiveness

University Of California-Los Angeles, Los Angeles CA

Investigators

Abstract

The Workshop on Aligning AI and U.S. Advanced Manufacturing Competitiveness will convene the advanced manufacturing research and practitioner communities, relevant companies, federal agencies and national laboratories and the Manufacturing USA Institutes and experts in artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) applications, information technology, and computer science to comprehensively assess the role of AI in manufacturing competitiveness. The workshop, held under the auspices of the Subcommittee on Advanced Manufacturing and the Subcommittee on Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence of the National Science and Technology Council, seizes on a moment of opportunity that results from the converging effects of the accelerating digital transformation of the global manufacturing industry, major global competitiveness drivers for both advanced manufacturing and AI/ML, and the sustained impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on manufacturing supply chains. When taken together, there emerges a need to: accelerate a U.S. manufacturing consensus on resilient manufacturing as a priority, address how the digital transformation of manufacturing shapes and is shaped by that transformation, and focus national attention on AI/ML technologies in the context of the nation’s manufacturing priorities. The workshop will be a professionally-managed, virtual teleconference that will emphasize the following manufacturing priorities related to digitalization: manufacturing ecosystem and supply chain restructuring, connectedness, visibility, interoperability, and agility in preparing for and responding to global and national disruptions; greater performance and precision in advanced process and machine operations as key assets in resilient manufacturing ecosystems; a safe and healthy, broadly-skilled, and data-savvy workforce that can be more flexibly deployed; and industry data flow and exchange, cyber opportunity, and national cyber and data security. The workshop will generate a cross-stakeholder consensus on what roles AI has and can have in improving U.S. manufacturing competitiveness and promoting collaboration by the advanced manufacturing and AI/ML research communities in formulating a national strategy that encompasses the workforce, technology and implementation. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.