A new report by the National Governors Association (NGA) sees advanced manufacturing as the key to future U.S. manufacturing competitiveness.

The report suggests that robotics, nanotechnologies, and advanced materials offer key opportunities to grow manufacturing.

The NGA study, “Making” Our Future: What States Are Doing to Encourage Growth in Manufacturing through Innovation, Entrepreneurship, and Investment, chronicles the progress of eight states in preparing new strategies intended to build a foundation for success in advanced manufacturing.  Those states—California, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Kansas, Massachusetts, New York, and Pennsylvania— together represent 30 percent of total manufacturing gross domestic product, one-third of U.S. manufacturing jobs and more than 25 percent of U.S. exports of manufactured goods. 

The findings represent a helpful step toward a revitalized U.S. manufacturing base for the 21st Century, something the Alliance for American Manufacturing (AAM) has advocated in a 'Plan to Save Manufacturing.' 

In addition to a focus on wider vocational training, AAM's plan also identified a number of trade policy measures intended to boost manufacturing competitiveness.

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