Welcome to the October edition of A Capitol View.
SMI is diving into the next phase in assisting universities, startups and established firms to leverage the historic government investments in building a more robust domestic industry for semiconductors and microelectronics.
The Department of Defense in September announced the first annual awards under the Microelectronics Commons program, a landmark investment under the bipartisan CHIPS and Science Act to boost the semiconductor workforce and manufacturing.
The nearly three dozen awards, totaling $269 million, are aimed at making the United States far less dependent on foreign sources for the microelectronics that are critical to a host of industries and national security.
The gamut: The 33 technical projects selected cover a host of technical areas in microelectronics research, development, test and evaluation (RDT&E), including quantum computing; secure edge computing; 5G/6G wireless communications; electromagnetic warfare; commercial leap-ahead technologies; and artificial intelligence.
“I’m excited to see the ME Commons program make its first round of awards,” said SMI Director Aarzu Maknojia, who has been successfully advising a range of clients on how to participate in the landmark effort. She will be attending the ME Commons program’s annual meeting later this month, where she will be further engaging with oversight agencies and participating companies and organizations.
More to come: The overall effort has a budget of $2 billion over 5 years and Aarzu expects that the dollar figures for the next round of project awards could nearly double next year. “I am interested to see what additional programs will be funded in the next year and how many new starts can be expected,” she said.
The National Security Technology Accelerator, which was established to revolutionize how the government invests in such technologies, has also published an official list of the new awards. The awards follow DoD’s selection of 8 regional hubs last year.
Contact Aarzu at aarzu@strategicmi.com to learn more about SMI’s support for the ME Commons project.
SMI SPOTLIGHT
WELCOME BACK: SMI is thrilled with the return as an associate of Alex Charow, an alum of our intern program who has spent four years in a series of key policy and leadership support roles on Capitol Hill.
Alex was a Floor Assistant to Majority Whip Sen. John Thune, where he researched legislation and drafted policy memos and the daily “Whip Notice.” He also worked for the Republican Conference, where he developed expertise on Senate rules, procedures and precedents.
Alex holds a BA in Philosophy from Saint John’s Seminary and a BA in Politics from the Catholic University of America.
‘Team dynamic’: “One of my favorite things about my time in the seminary was being a part of a brotherhood, a group of like-minded individuals who were striving to achieve the same goal,” he said. “In deciding to leave the seminary and return to Washington and the political world, I knew there was only one place to go to find a similar team dynamic.”
He added of his first stint at SMI: “I remember being continually edified by the internal dynamism of my colleagues; a group of extremely accomplished individuals who worked hard every day to achieve positive outcomes for their clients. In coming back to Washington, I knew that I wanted to be a part of that team.”
Aiming high: SMI also continues to build out its first-class roster of senior advisers. We recently enlisted retired Air Force Col. Jason Mello, CEO and founder of KMC Group, LLC, a veteran acquisition official in the Pentagon and intelligence community – including the space launch division at the National Reconnaissance Office, where he pioneered the acquisition of small satellites.
Jason went on to lead commercial space company Firefly Space Transport, including securing the company’s first launch contract with the Space Force. He also brings a wealth of experience forging contracting relationships with large government contractors.
He holds an MA in Organizational Management from George Washington University, an MS in Engineering from the University of Massachusetts, and a BS in Chemical Engineering from Worcester Polytechnic Institute.
BUDGET
UNRESOLVED: Congress missed its Oct. 1 deadline to pass annual appropriations for the new fiscal year but locked in a temporary continuing resolution that extends current funding levels until Dec. 20.
The measure, signed by President Joe Biden, keeps the lights on until Congress can reach a deal for annual appropriations. Yet federal agencies won’t be able to start new programs without approved exceptions.
To-do list: It also means a traffic jam of must-pass legislation after the November election and before the new Congress is seated in January.
In addition to annual appropriations for all federal agencies, a final National Defense Authorization Act is still pending to set national security. And throw into the mix the pressing – and in some cases highly controversial – funding demands for the federal response to Hurricanes Helene and Milton, as well as additional military aid for Ukraine and Israel.
STRATEGIC COMMUNICATIONS
CAPACITY BUILDING: SMI’s strategic communications practice led by VP Bryan Bender is pleased to be rolling out a fall PR campaign, Forgings for Defense: The Capacity to Meet The Moment, to highlight the forging industry’s critical role in our defense buildup.
Working closely with Forging Industry Association CEO Jim Warren and his team, the months-long advertising and thought leadership campaign aims to educate policymakers and defense leaders on the industry’s untapped capacity, the international trade and other headwinds that risk undermining our domestic preparedness, and the proactive steps needed to strengthen this critical but often overlooked sector of the defense industrial base.
Watch: Forgings for Defense: The Capacity to Meet The Moment
Related coverage: Forging Industry Can Meet Defense Demand, Group Says
ENERGY
COMMON GROUND: SMI is closely tracking a series of bipartisan legislative efforts in Congress to help strengthen the domestic supply chain for critical minerals for clean energy.
The latest: Rep. Kathy Castor of Florida and Rep. Rob Wittman of Virginia, who co-chair a special working group of the special House committee on China, told the POLITICO Energy podcast that they are eying price supports or a strategic reserve to help suppliers of electric vehicle battery materials and others in the clean tech space.
Bridging the divide: Despite historic levels of funding to boost the industry, including via the Inflation Reduction Act, U.S. EV makers remain highly reliant on cheaper Chinese minerals.
The domestic industry is finding it challenging to develop a counter that makes financial sense – and so far, the two parties have not been able to find enough common ground to plug that gap.
“Really optimistic’: The policy goal to strengthen the domestic supply chain for critical minerals is at the heart of a new industry coalition launched by SMI, the Battery Advocacy for Technology Transformation (BATT) Coalition.
SMI VP Samm Gillard, who spearheads the coalition, spoke to Chemical Engineering magazine for a cover story on the myriad projects underway in the United States – and their challenges – to extract, process and recycle lithium for EV batteries.
“Considering where we were four years ago in the U.S., I feel really optimistic about where we’ll be in two years,” he said. “I am also optimistic that our percentage of global demand is going to increase, which to me is a key metric. We do have an excellent innovation landscape here, from national labs to private industry.”
Samm was also on hand for Climate Week in New York at the end of September, where he was a featured speaker at an event on “Unlocking Climate Grants.”
Read the full magazine piece: Lithium Landscape: Activity is Charging Forward in the U.S.
‘GROWING MOMENTUM’: Harnessing water power and wave energy is another pillar of SMI’s energy portfolio. And the team is focused on the largest funding opportunity since the Department of Energy’s Water Power Technologies Office was established in 2008.
Focus areas: The $112.5 million grant program, according to DOE, will support proposals on: “wave device development and open water testing, specifically targeting dispersed use and power-at-sea applications; ”wave device development tailored to meet the needs of coastal communities, with potential applications in power and desalination;” and “wave device development to support utility-scale power, utilizing offshore, grid-connected testing facilities like PacWave,” which is based at Oregon State University, an SMI client.
“This reflects the growing momentum for ocean energy in the US,” said Rémi Gruet, CEO of Ocean Energy Europe. “The government rightly identified the huge potential of wave energy as part of its energy transition, and is offering a clear path to boost deployments within the next 5 years.”
To learn more about SMI’s water power work contact VP Paul Gay at paul@strategicmi.com.
More clean energy news: Treasury vows to finalize tax cuts for hydrogen
BIOTECHNOLOGY
NEW LINCS: SMI client University of Massachusetts Lowell has teamed up with nonprofit Bioversity, to develop a biotech workforce training program, including a dedicated lab and classroom facility on campus.
The partnership will be part of the university’s expanding Lowell Innovation Network Corridor (LINC), a vibrant public-private partnership that SMI has been proud to support.
‘A key piece’: “Workforce is a key piece of the LINC vision, as we recruit additional life sciences firms and jobs to Lowell and the region,” said UMass Lowell Chancellor Julie Chen
Related: UMass Lowell, Headlamp Launch Workforce Training Program for Vets
MANUFACTURING
STEPPING OUT: SMI COO Ken Wetzel was pleased to join the Advanced Functional Fabrics of America two-day summit this week in Boston, where he delivered a presentation on how to navigate the federal appropriations process to support R&D efforts.
The public-private partnership, which is designated a Manufacturing USA Innovation Institute and funded by the Department of Defense, aims to revitalize the textile industry by bridging the gap between early-stage technology and commercialization, with a special emphasis on transformative capabilities to meet defense needs.
“It was a privilege to speak to leaders in the functional fabrics industry about the role that the federal appropriations process can play in helping to advance state-of-the-art technology,” said Wetzel. “AFFOA is leading the way in bringing together the best minds from a diverse set of technical backgrounds to meet this national need.”
ON OFFENSE: The United States Footwear Manufacturers Association held its Fall Meeting in Los Angeles, its largest ever, to seek new partnerships that strengthen the domestic supply chain, reshore more manufacturing, and sharpen advocacy efforts.
“We said, ‘listen, we can’t play just defense – we want to grow this industry, so we are being more proactive in recruiting new members, getting out there and highlighting what’s going on in our industry,’” USFMA executive director and SMI CEO Bill McCann told Kate Nishimura of Sourcing Journal. “You can see at meetings like this supply chains for new shoes being formed right in front of your eyes.”
Read more: Footwear Manufacturers Convene in Los Angeles to Game Out ‘Next Wave’ of Made in the USA
