Historical Timeline

March 9, 2012 President Obama announced the concept of the National Network for Manufacturing Innovation (NNMI), comprising of 15 Institutes for Manufacturing Innovation located throughout the country.
March 9, 2012 President Obama also announced the launch of a pilot institute to serve as a proof-of-concept for the NNMI institutes. The pilot would be selected through a competitive process.
April 13, 2012 Public Announcement revealed the NNMI pilot institute’s focus area to be additive manufacturing.
May 8, 2012 The government released a Broad Agency Announcement (BAA-12-17-PKD) to solicit proposals from those organizations seeking to manage and provide leadership of the pilot institute on additive manufacturing.
August 16, 2012 The National Center for Defense Manufacturing and Machining (NCDMM) was selected to manage the NNMI pilot institute, the National Additive Manufacturing Innovation Institute (NAMII), which was established in Youngstown, Ohio.
August 30, 2012 The newly founded NAMII, driven by NCDMM, factored prominently in the Society of Manufacturing Engineers’ decision to announce it is holding the industry’s definitive additive manufacturing event, RAPID 2013, in Pittsburgh, Pa.
September 14, 2012 NAMII launched its official Web site at www.namii.org.
September 27, 2012 NAMII hosted an official ribbon-cutting ceremony and an open house of its Youngstown, Ohio headquarters.
October 10, 2012 NAMII held its first all-hands member meeting.
November 15, 2012 NAMII’s Governance Board and Technical Advisory Board appointed members to its Executive Committee.
November 27, 2012 At DMC 2012, NAMII announced its first call for projects.
November 27, 2012 At DMC 2012, NAMII announced open membership for new applications.
December 4, 2012 NAMII sponsored a special event hosted by Acutronic USA, Inc. and attended by Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett where the winners of the first Research for Advanced Manufacturing in Pennsylvania (RAMP) program awards were announced.
January 18, 2013 NAMII is included on the “Innovations to Watch” list from The Brookings Metropolitan Policy Program and The Rockefeller Foundation as one of the top ten most innovative economic development initiatives in the United States
February 1, 2013 Edward Morris named as new NAMII Director, taking over for NAMII Founding Director and NCDMM President and Executive Director Ralph Resnick.
February 12, 2013 President Obama cited NAMII’s success in his 2013 State of the Union Address.
March 8, 2013 Senator Sherrod Brown toured NAMII and called for the official creation of the National Network for Manufacturing Innovation (NNMI).
March 20, 2013 NAMII announced the awardees of its initial call for additive manufacturing (AM) applied research and development projects from NAMII members.
April 1, 2013 NAMII announced permanent Deputy Director appointments, officially welcoming industry leaders Rob Gorham, Dan Maas, Bill Macy, and Darrell Wallace, Ph.D.
April 2-3, 2013 NAMII held its first Program Management Review and Project Kickoff Meetings at Youngstown State University
June 10-13, 2013 NAMII to attend the Society of Manufacturing Engineers’ RAPID 2013 Conference and Exposition, North America’s definitive additive manufacturing event, in Pittsburgh, Pa.