关键词：制造业；方案评价；政府/行业关系；先进制造技术
摘 要：Manufacturing strength is linked closely to the innovative potential and competitiveness of nations. In many sectors, innovative methods and ideas are generated and perfected through the process of making things. In recognition, a recent Report of the Presidents Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) and the Presidents Innovation and Technology Advisory Committee (PITAC) emphasized the critical importance of advanced manufacturing in driving knowledge production and innovation in the United States.1 Manufacturing companies play a vital role in the economic growth, high skill employment, and competitiveness of the United States economy. They are responsible for over two-thirds of business and industrial R&D, employing the majority of domestic scientists and engineers. Furthermore, manufacturing R&D is the dominant source of innovative new service-sector technologies that reach beyond the manufacturing arena.2 The Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP)a program of the U.S. Department of Commerces National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)has sought for more than two decades to strengthen American manufacturing. It is a national network of affiliated manufacturing extension centers and field offices located throughout all fifty states and Puerto Rico. Qualified MEP Centers work directly with small and medium manufacturing firms in their state or sub-state region, providing expertise, services and assistance directed to foster growth, improve supply chain positioning, leverage emerging technologies, upgrade manufacturing processes, develop work force training, and apply and implement new information.