WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Chris Coons (D-Del.), who leads the Manufacturing Jobs for America campaign in the Senate, praised President Obama’s announcement Tuesday of new initiatives to spur innovation in America’s manufacturing sector. Among the actions announced Tuesday is a new effort to help manufacturing entrepreneurs discover, access, and utilize the more than $5 billion worth of research, prototyping, and testing equipment and expertise included in more than 700 federal R&D facilities across the country.

“America's best competitive advantage is our capacity to innovate,” Senator Coons said. “In today’s global economy, the nations that emerge as leaders in manufacturing will be the ones that invent new ways to make higher quality products more efficiently. American manufacturers are already investing heavily in critical research and development, but many small businesses simply don’t have the resources to pursue their inventions on their own. Our national laboratories are leading centers of research and discovery, and their equipment and expertise can help American entrepreneurs turn their ideas into products. The Administration’s actions today are an important step forward to allow American innovators to access the valuable tools available at our federal labs.”

A new initiative through www.Data.gov/research will provide, for the first time in one place, machine-readable data on the resources available at national labs and federal R&D facilities. These facilities, operated by agencies including DOE, NASA, and NIH, include cutting-edge research tools and together represent over $5 billion dollars of taxpayer investment. Over time, the website will expand to include more comprehensive data on other R&D assets available to manufacturing entrepreneurs, including federally funded intellectual property.

Senators Coons and Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) introduced legislation in January to make the nation’s innovation pipeline more efficient and strengthen partnerships between national labs and the private sector. The America INNOVATES Act would modernize the United States’ national lab system through targeted reforms that will help labs partner with American businesses to translate more scientific discoveries into commercial breakthroughs. More on the bill here: http://1.usa.gov/1fx9Nni

Read more about the President’s executive actions here: http://1.usa.gov/SR3hlt