Obama Calls for more tech research

Obama Calls for more tech research

Friday 22 Feb 2013

U.S. President Barack Obama has called for a level of science and technology research "not seen since the height of the space race". In his State of the Union address last week Obama credited several innovative companies and new technologies, including Apple and 3D-printing (part of the WoodEXPO 2013 focus this year), with helping to spark growth in the American economy.

"There are things we can do, right now, to accelerate this trend," Obama said in his prepared remarks. He continued;

"Last year, we created our first manufacturing innovation institute in Youngstown, Ohio. A once-shuttered warehouse is now a state-of-the art lab where new workers are mastering the 3D-printing that has the potential to revolutionize the way we make almost everything. There’s no reason this can’t happen in other towns. So tonight, I’m announcing the launch of three more of these manufacturing hubs, where businesses will partner with the Departments of Defense and Energy to turn regions left behind by globalization into global centers of high-tech jobs. And I ask this Congress to help create a network of fifteen of these hubs and guarantee that the next revolution in manufacturing is Made in America."

Obama pushed back against lawmakers who would cut research and development spending as a means of easing the country's debt: "Now is not the time to gut these job-creating investments in science and innovation," he said. Obama then went on to propose cutting "the energy wasted by our homes and businesses" by half over the next two decades.

"Four years ago, other countries dominated the clean-energy market and the jobs that came with it," he said. "We’ve begun to change that. Last year, wind energy added nearly half of all new power capacity in America. So let’s generate even more."

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