MIT’s Initiative for New Manufacturing builds momentum | MIT News
In May, the Initiative for New Manufacturing (INM) marked its first year with MIT Manufacturing Week, four days of events that attracted more than 800 participants including students, faculty, industry leaders, investors, entrepreneurs, and government officials to explore topics ranging from how companies are using AI in factories to solving the problem of creating new jobs. labor shortage.
“INM was launched last year on the premise that strengthening the industrial base requires a systematic response, and MIT has a responsibility to lead it,” said Paula T. Hammond, dean of MIT’s School of Engineering and co-chair of the INM Steering Committee. “The level of response and participation was overwhelming. MIT Productivity Week proved that the desire for change – from students to senior management – is real and urgent.”
The week opened with a cybersecurity workshop co-led by INM and Google Cloud for industry members of the program. It continued the MIT MIMO (Machine Intelligence for Manufacturing) series focused on bringing artificial intelligence to the factory floor, along with discussions on workforce development, emerging technologies, startups, and industrial change. The week closed with a regional research exhibition and competition that drew more than 140 graduate students and postdocs from across New England.
Over the past year, INM has also continued its distinguished speaker series featuring manufacturing leaders including Keith Flynn, senior vice president of manufacturing at Anduril; Roland Busch, president and CEO of Siemens; and Venky Alagirisamy, COO of Nike.
Fostering a new generation of manufacturing startups
INM’s primary mission is to help more students see manufacturing as a frontier for scientific discovery, technological innovation, entrepreneurship, and social impact.
To support that effort, INM launches and leads programs to help move early-stage ideas and new technologies from the lab to real-world development, as well as foster new manufacturing companies.
This year, INM partnered with NSF I-Corps New England, which helps researchers turn their first ideas into companies, to host its first manufacturing research exhibition. More than 140 teams from 17 universities across New England applied to participate. The 40 finalist teams received training on their ideas and advanced to the final competition, where eight teams shared $50,000 in prize funding.
The top prize in the “most revolutionary innovation” category went to MIT PhD student Jake Read’s “The End of G-Code,” a project focused on machine control design designed to accelerate the development of new machines and processes. Vatsal Patel of MIT and Joshua Grace of Yale University won the top prize in the research excellence category, for “VisFT,” scalable six-axis force-torque sensors.
Project themes presented by participating teams include AI tools for manufacturing, semiconductor manufacturing and process control, robotics and autonomous assembly, digital twins and simulation, innovation, additive manufacturing, next-generation shipbuilding, and biomanufacturing.
“Entrepreneurship is a dynamic way to take research to market, and to drive rapid innovation and scale-up,” said John Hart, director of the INM division and head of MIT’s Department of Mechanical Engineering. “In the first INM research exhibition, we had great interest from universities in New England, as well as enthusiastic participation from industry, investors, and experienced innovators across the ecosystem. We are excited to build on this success and work toward a national program and business platform and translation into manufacturing.”
The Cheng Wu Foundation supported the exhibition.
Growing industry membership
During MIT Manufacturing Week, First Solar became the eighth member of the INM industry, joining Amgen, Autodesk, GE Vernova, Flex, PTC, Sanofi and Siemens.
The growth of the INM alliance reflects the widespread recognition that the challenges facing modern manufacturing – from strengthening procurement to workforce development and industrial competitiveness – are too complex for any one sector or company to tackle alone.
This reflects a renewed interest in manufacturing at a time when advances in artificial intelligence, robotics, energy systems, and advanced materials are transforming industrial production. INM provides a platform to call and provide solutions.
INM’s industry insortium model brings industry, researchers, and educators together on shared productivity challenges, focusing on emerging technologies, workforce transformation, and commercialization. Members participate in workshops and working groups on topics including cybersecurity and digital twins, implementing automated systems, AI agents in control environments, and AI and continuous innovation. INM helps them connect with students, meet newbies, and learn from each other.
“Our members see MIT as a partner who can help them both address today’s challenges and think ahead to the future,” said Rick Locke, dean of the MIT Sloan School of Management and co-chair of INM’s steering committee. “This type of multi-industry collaboration is rare and powerful.”
A year of rapid development
When MIT launched INM last year, the goal was to create stronger connections between research, industry, workforce development, and entrepreneurship – to help accelerate how new manufacturing technologies move from the lab to real-world development.
Since then, the program has grown rapidly throughout research, industry, staff training, and student involvement. INM has announced proposals focused on artificial intelligence and automation, receiving an overwhelming response from faculty and researchers, and funding eight seed research projects. In June, the program plans to publish eight white papers as part of a broader study examining the future of manufacturing.
During MIT’s Independent Activities Period (IAP) in January 2026, INM partnered with the NSF I-Corps to mentor 13 early stage teams through customer acquisition as part of the I-Corps Spark program.
Human resource development has also been a major focus. This fall, MIT launched the Technologist Advanced Manufacturing Program (TechAMP), led by Principal Research Scientist John Liu, to create a new generation of shop floor leaders and production drivers – to be “‘experts'” – at six sites in New England, including three community colleges.
“INM has the potential to transform the national manufacturing workforce,” Liu said. “It will require deeper engagement between how people learn and lead, and how firms use new technology and adapt. We’re just getting started.”
INM is now exploring the national rollout of TechAMP, as well as expansion into areas including biomanufacturing and semiconductor production.
On campus, INM supported student engagements including an AI and automation lunch series organized by Professor Faez Ahmed and colleagues, and visited factories through its Factory Observatory program led by Ben Armstrong and the MIT Industrial Performance Center. This spring, students also founded MIT’s first manufacturing club, which held its launch event during MIT Manufacturing Week. “We’re very excited that the students are leading,” said Sloan professor and INM faculty director Karen Zheng. “It was really exciting to see a full room of 80-plus students from across campus come together for an event during the busiest time of the semester. It speaks volumes for the students’ enthusiasm.”
An eye towards the long term
While remaining focused on strengthening domestic production, INM aims to reach out globally. For example, the program collaborates with NAMTECH, a new educational institution in Ahmedabad, India, where students are now taking an adaptation of MIT’s course “yo-yo,” or 2.008 (Design and Manufacturing II), which focuses on the basics of manufacturing processes.
Next year, INM plans to bring more manufacturing leaders to campus, offer more programs for budding entrepreneurs, graduate the first batch of TechAMP students, bring TechAMP to new states, expand the alliance to include new industries, and deepen research on manufacturing.
“INM aims to be a catalyst for transforming manufacturing across the country to drive innovation, economic growth, and new types of jobs,” said Chris Love, INM division director. “MIT’s work on the PIE (Production in the Innovation Economy) study in 2013 highlighted the importance of the close relationship between manufacturing and innovation. INM wants to renew this relationship in manufacturing across the country.”
