15 U.S.C. § 278r — Collaborative manufacturing research pilot grants

(a) Authority (1) Establishment: The Director must create a pilot program that gives grants to partnerships. Winners are picked through peer review and competition. (2) Participants: Each partnership must include at least one manufacturing company and at least one partner that isn't in the manufacturing industry. (3) Purpose: The program's goal is to get companies, schools, research groups, state agencies, and nonprofits to work together and share costs. Together they aim to invent new, multidisciplinary manufacturing technology. Partnerships that win awards must do applied research on new manufacturing processes, techniques, or materials. That research should make US manufacturing perform better, produce more, and compete better. It should also build lasting partnerships among the collaborators. (b) Program contribution A grant under this section can pay for at most one-third of a partnership's costs. Another one-third, at most, can come from other federal sources. That means at least one-third must come from somewhere other than federal money. (c) Applications The Director decides how, when, and what information partnerships must submit to apply. Every application must explain, at minimum: (1) how each partner will help develop and carry out the research plan; (2) what research the grant money would fund; and (3) how that research would improve the performance, productivity, and competitiveness of US manufacturing. (d) Selection criteria When picking which applications to fund, the Director must consider at least: (1) how broadly the project would affect manufacturing; (2) how new, scientifically sound, and technically strong the project is; and (3) whether the applicants have shown they can actually carry out the research. (e) Distribution As much as practical, the Director must spread the awards across different manufacturing industries and different sizes of companies. (f) Duration The Director runs this program as a single pilot competition — one round of soliciting and awarding grants. Each award lasts three years.