The institute will be supported with $70 million in federal funds and more than $180 million in non-federal funds. The selected consortium of U.S organisations will work to develop lower-cost, higher-speed, and more efficient manufacturing and recycling processes for advanced composites.
The team at the institute has been made up of world-class organisations from across the industry. It includes leading manufacturers, material suppliers and software developers, government and academia. All have broad and deep experience in all aspects of the advanced composite product development process, from design and prototyping to manufacturing at commercial scale.
The innovation centre has received commitments from large charter corporate contributors such as those with critical connection to the automotive composites supply chain like Ford, Volkswagen, Dow Chemical Company and DowAksa; premium members with national manufacturing impact like Boeing and Lockheed Martin; and small and medium enterprises like Strongwell a pultrusion company, and Local Motors, an innovator in automotive 3D-printing, which are both innovation drivers and local to East Tennessee. More than 90 companies across the supply chain support the project.