July / August - Minnesota Precision Manufacturing Association

Cover | Minnesota TECHNOLOGy LANDSCAPE
7. Optics
Patents in this area focus on:
• Light guides, including integrated circuit
kinds, the structural details of their
arrangements, mechanical structures for
providing tensile strength and external
protection, and fiber-to-fiber coupling
• Polarizers, reflectors, diffusing elements,
afocal elements and mirrors
• Optical elements made of organic
materials
Light-focusing optical antennas were
one of the top 10 emerging technologies
named by Technology Review in 2007. 11
IEEE Spectrum‘s listing of 10 technology
companies includes a “displays” category.
The technology highlighted in this category
is a wearable display that projects light
directly onto the eye. 12
8. Greener Vehicles
Patents in this area focus on fuel cells,
specifically:
• Auxiliary arrangements or processes
• Solid and/or organic electrolytes
• Grouping into modules
• Electrodes made of active material,
including catalyst
• Manufacture and construction, especially
of the cases, jackets or wrappings
• Incorporation of methods to produce the
reactants or process the residues
Multiple reports identify manufacturing
for the fuel cell industry as a significant
area of opportunity. This includes
development and production in hydrogen,
hybrid vehicles, biofuel options as well
as other green energy technologies. Such
development will require advances in
processes, infrastructure, retooling as well
as storage and distribution systems.
9. Nanotechnology
Nanomanufacturing was identified
by the National Science and Technology
Council as an area of opportunity in a
report that states, “nanomanufacturing
R&D is directed toward enabling the
mass production of reliable and affordable
nanoscale materials, structures, devices and
systems.
“Nanotechnology is viewed throughout
the world as a critical driver of future
economic growth and as a means to
addressing some of humanity’s most vexing
challenges. Because of its broad range of
prospective uses, nanotechnology has the
potential to impact virtually every industry,
from aerospace and energy to health care
and agriculture.” 13
10. Information
Technology
Although software production is
not a manufacturing activity, advances
in software will enable advanced
manufacturing and will drive the
development of new products in many
sectors. Furthermore, software is an
important area of patent and R&D activity.
Patents in this area focus on:
• Information retrieval and database
structures
• Combinations of two or more computers
• Computer-aided design
• Graphical user interfaces
• Security
• Interconnection networks
• Administrative, commercial, financial,
managerial, supervisory or forecasting
purposes
Among other specialties, this area
includes intelligent and integrated
manufacturing, modeling and simulation,
smart systems, and visualization, planning
and knowledge management, probabilistic
chips, grapheme transistors, M2M
computing and reality mining. 14, 15, 16, 17 >>>
NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION
An important source of funding for basic research is the National Science Foundation (NSF). Activity in basic research
can translate into future industrial activity. Research funding from NSF has increased faster than funding from other
government agencies, at about 7 percent annually.
The National Science Foundation has several programs aimed at manufacturing.
• The Advanced Manufacturing Cluster supports the development of predictive and real-time models, novel
experimental methods for manufacturing and assembly of macro, micro, and nanoscale devices and systems, and
advanced sensing and control techniques for manufacturing processes. 18
• The Manufacturing Enterprise Systems (MES) program supports research that impacts the analytical and
computational techniques relevant to extended enterprise operations and that offers the prospect of implementable
solutions. Topics of interest include analytical and computational tools for planning, monitoring, control, and
scheduling of manufacturing and distribution operations, and development of methods for optimization of
manufacturing enterprises in the presence of a high degree of uncertainty and risk. 19
• The Materials Processing and Manufacturing (MPM) program supports fundamental research on processing
methods such as molding, forging, casting, welding, hydroforming, composite layup and other materials processing
approaches. Emphasis is placed on environmentally benign manufacturing and virtual manufacturing. 20
• The Manufacturing and Construction Machines and Equipment (MCME) program supports fundamental
research on solid freeform fabrication encompassing scales from microns to meters. 21
• The NanoManufacturing (NM) program supports research and education on manufacturing at the nanoscale, and
the transfer of research results in nanoscience and nanotechnology to industrial applications. Special emphases are
on environmental, health, and societal aspects of nanotechnology and nanomanufacturing. 22
8 | PRECISION MANUFACTURING July | August 2009