By 1/31/2014
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Following the President's State of the Union Address, Visit Highlights the Importance of Smart Investments that Promote Economic Opportunity
Disputanta, VIRGINIA - Secretary Jacob J. Lew today toured the Commonwealth Center for Advanced Manufacturing (CCAM) outside of Richmond, Virginia. Following the President's State of the Union address, the visit highlighted the importance of investing in high-tech manufacturing, innovation, and job training in order to promote real, lasting economic opportunity. While touring CCAM's facility, Secretary Lew heard directly from researchers, students, and business leaders about the need to increase access to workforce training and investments in research and development.
"To build on the progress we have made over the last five years, we have to continue to take action to help strengthen economic growth, create jobs, and restore opportunity for all," Secretary Lew said. "As I saw today, CCAM is at the forefront of expanding opportunity by bringing researchers, students, and business together to drive innovation and develop advanced manufacturing technologies. It is also a powerful example of why this Administration's focus on increasing job training, modernizing our education system, and creating manufacturing institutes is so important."
As the President said in his State of the Union address, the administration's top priority remains expanding job and economic opportunity for all. To make sure the United States continues to be the best place on Earth to do business, the President has proposed launching four new manufacturing institutes in 2014, a government-wide review of federal training programs to help Americans get skills in demand for good jobs, and expanding apprenticeships by mobilizing business, community colleges and labor.
CCAM is a public-private collaborative research center that undertakes research critical to the surface technology and advanced manufacturing industries. CCAM's approach bridges the gap between research typically performed at universities and product development routinely performed by companies. CCAM aims to foster coordination between research and commercialization, encourage collaboration, lower research and development costs for member companies, and train the next generation of technology leaders. In October, CCAM received a grant through the Department of Commerce to develop a strategy for establishing the Advanced Manufacturing Apprentice Academy, a regional training center that will provide hands-on training to prepare workers for careers in advanced manufacturing.
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