Cultivating a Culture of Collaboration
The National Center for Manufacturing Sciences (NCMS) is a manufacturing technology collaboration catalyst that creates professional relationships and business opportunities, drives cutting-edge research and development, and leverages industry intelligence from a technical perspective. We are an established non-profit dedicated to working with world-class organizations with state-of-the-art technologies who are looking to innovate with reduced risk and create technologies quickly and economically at the highest quality. NCMS is unique as a national network with the primary goal of fostering innovation through collaboration, with emphasis on Technology Readiness Levels (TRL) 4-7. Our collaborative model leverages cross-industry expertise that creates a climate for success.
NCMS provides a protected environment where competitors and partners work collaboratively to share proprietary information and best practices for the benefit of all. Working closely with government partners, leading original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), small and medium-sized manufacturers, and academic institutions, NCMS serves as a neutral third party to leverage our cross-industry network to work together to accomplish targeted research and development goals. Using a multitude of contract vehicles, we work with:
- OEMs searching for smaller companies with revolutionary technologies that have not yet been fully commercialized
- Small and medium-sized companies with innovations and technologies searching for partners to help fully realize their market potential
- Colleges and universities looking to commercialize their technologies
- A variety of federal agencies, labs, and private partners interested in funding technology development.
Pulling together public and private sectors to drive technology innovation through collaborative development is at the heart of what NCMS does every day. Our record over the last 30+ years proves this: $1.2 billion in project funding on 350 projects. NCMS’ primary objective is to meet the program needs of our members and partners to facilitate the technology transfer and deployment into commercialization and implementation. Through NCMS, companies of all sizes can address technology requirements that one company alone could not tackle. Leveraging the resources of all partners, NCMS
helps bridge the “valley-of-death” innovation gap with technology and training, thus accelerating the pace of innovation and commercial integration.
Membership is one way to contribute to NCMS’ mission to build and strengthen U.S. manufacturing. NCMS membership is a key contributor to our success
because it creates a trusting environment for competitors and partners to come together, work collaboratively, protect their intellectual property, and deliver quality products to key customers.
In 2016, NCMS grew its membership base by 28 percent. In 2017, we are aggressively striving to grow our business, expand our network, find new technologies, and position U.S. companies to solve future technical problems. We are seeking companies that are hungry to become part of a network that shares or creates technical solutions with government and corporate partners. We welcome the opportunity to work with all parties committed to advancing manufacturing, creating innovations, and contributing to building and sustaining America’s industrial supply chain.
We invite you to join us. We are constantly surveying industry and government needs for new technologies and new funding opportunities for those partners when they have new technologies for the marketplace.