Lift, DOD Sign New Agreement for Public-Private Partnership

Inside the Lift facility in Detroit. Photo Credit: Lift

Lift, the Detroit-based Department of Defense (DOD) manufacturing innovation institute, has signed a new Cooperative Agreement with the DOD Manufacturing Technology (ManTech) Program to continue to operate the public-private partnership and national Manufacturing Innovation Institute (MII) for the next five years. 

ManTech is overseen by the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering, and the contract will be managed through the Office of Naval Research (ONR). The new agreement’s total value is $49.4 million, including industry cost-share, funded annually through 2028.

Lift is a nonprofit public-private partnership whose mission is to drive American advanced manufacturing into the future through technology and talent development, and is operated by the American Lightweight Materials Manufacturing Innovation Institute (ALMMII). The original cooperative agreement with the Department of Defense was initiated when it was established in February 2014. 

The institute moved into its Detroit headquarters in 2015, opened its state-of-the-art high bay in 2017 and the Lift Learning Lab in 2019. The institute then opened a satellite location in Sterling Heights, Michigan, in 2021 to support its partnership with the U.S. Army. At the end of 2022, it was announced that the institute plans to open another satellite facility in Puerto Rico this year.

The new agreement enables Lift to continue its work as a DOD MII and participate in the Manufacturing USA network, which is focused on “materials and manufacturing technologies to advance the systems engineering approach needed for the design, build, test and manufacture of components.” It also requires that Lift continue its focus on advanced materials, manufacturing process, systems engineering and the integration of materials characterization, captured through computational tools, such as Integrated Computational Materials Engineering (ICME) across different materials applications to benefit the DOD and the national industrial manufacturing base.  

“Our continued partnership with the Department of Defense solidifies Lift as a national asset and the national hub for the design, development, verification and validation of advanced materials and manufacturing processes,” says Nigel Francis, Lift CEO and Executive Director. “The challenges we are addressing from manufacturing technology and talent perspectives can only truly be addressed through public-private partnerships like we operate here at Lift, and I am looking forward to what we can achieve together over the next five years.”

Lift has continued to show the value it promised the DOD in 2014 when it was established in Detroit. “Our partnership with Lift adds value to our MII network to accelerate technologies, build advanced manufacturing ecosystems, and educate and train the needed workforce, fulfilling our mission to get critical technologies to the Warfighter at speed and scale,” says Tracy Frost, director of the Office of the Secretary of Defense’s Manufacturing Technology Program.

The renewal also continues to benefit Michigan. “Michigan workers and manufacturers are the best in the world, so it is only fitting that one of the world’s premiere innovation institutes is in our state,” says Senator Debbie Stabenow. “This continued partnership with the Department of Defense will allow Michigan to continue to lead the way in manufacturing and innovation.”

The renewal will help bolster the state’s defense footprint as well as its economy. “Lift is a key asset right here in Detroit that is leading the way in advanced manufacturing, and I’m pleased their partnership with the Department of Defense will continue,” says U.S. Senator Gary Peters, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Rep. Shri Thanedar is pleased to see a growing economic asset like Lift in the heart of Detroit’s Corktown. “The work they are doing to bring technology and talent to the area is critical to the residents here and carries on our long tradition of creating jobs through manufacturing innovation,” Thanedar says.

U.S. Rep. Haley Stevens says she has seen firsthand the work that Lift is doing to move manufacturing forward in the epicenter of the national industrial base. “I applaud both Lift and the Department of Defense for continuing this partnership and I cannot wait to see what is next,” Stevens says.