对科技政策办公室关于先进制造业战略规划的评论（英）

COMMENTS OF ITIF to the December 12, 2025 INTRODUCTION AND SUMMARY The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF) is pleased to submit the followingcomments in response to the administration’s Request for Information for a National Strategic Plan for 1. a. Which emerging science and technology areas (e.g., artificial intelligence) will be key to thenext generation of innovative advanced manufacturing technologies, and how will they impact A wide suite of digital manufacturing technologies—including artificial intelligence (AI) (and individual AIapplications such as AR/VR, computer vision, expert systems, digital twins, and robotic process automation),big data, cloud computing, the Internet of Things, sensors, robots/cobots, advanced wirelesscommunications, and computer-aided design (CAD) and engineering (CAE) software—tools are poised to The application of digital manufacturing technologies will be significant. Analysts expect manufacturingdigitalization to boost overall global factory productivity up to 25 percent.3One assessment findsmanufacturing digitalization could produce a 10 percent improvement in overall operating efficiency; 25percent improvement in energy efficiency; 25 percent reduction in consumer packaging; 25 percent reduction Manufacturers stand at differing levels of implementing smart manufacturing solutions. One March 2025study of over 800 large multinational manufacturers found that 98 percent have at least initiated digitaltransformation efforts seeking to improve their customer experience and operational efficiency, optimizecosts, or enhance products.6However, implementation of digital manufacturing solutions is decidedly lower Center for Advanced Manufacturing Systems (ICAMS) at Auburn University found that 56 percent of U.S.SME manufacturers were either currently using or now implementing automation tools and 49 percent usingadditive manufacturing, but that only 38 percent were using big data, only 28 percent AI, and only 27 percent The United States significantly trails in the deployment of robotics—a cross-cutting automation tool that willbe vital to the competitiveness of myriad U.S. manufacturing industries. In fact, China has installed moreindustrial robots than the rest of the world combined in each of the past five years. When nations areassessed by their deployment of industrial robots per 10,000 workers, the United States ranks tenth, whileChina ranks third.8The United States needs to significantly scale up its deployment of industrial robots, andITIF laid out a strategy to do so in its recent report “A Time to Act: Policies to Strengthen the US RoboticsIndustry.” Several recommendations which stood out from the report include that the United States shoulddevelop a national strategy for robotics, the Department of Commerce should convene a robotics industry 1. b. What are the primary challenges and barriers that need to be addressed to ensure the successfulintegration and widespread adoption of emerging technology in manufacturing? A litany of supply and demand challenges continue to inhibit the wider adoption of emerging technologies inU.S. manufacturing. One challenge is that the technologies are still evolving and not yet fully mature. As Industry Week’sJessica Davis notes, “Implementing an Internet of Things program isn’t exactly like flipping aswitch. There’s a lot involved, from sensors where the data is initially collected to the network the datatravels,to the analytics systems that figure out what it all means.”11A lack of interoperable standards betweenvendor solutions represents another significant challenge.As the report “Industrie 4.0 in a Global Context:Strategies for Cooperating with International Partners” explains, “individual modules, components, devices, formats, vocabularies, taxonomies, ontologies, and interfaces will be key to creating interoperability betweendifferent digital manufacturing solutions, and the U.S. National Institute of Standards (NIST) can play an Recent research from the Boston Consulting Group and McKinsey has found that 70 percent of digitaltransformation initiatives fail to meet their objectives.13A significant reason why pertains to lagging employeeskills and competencies to effectively implement digital solutions and to a lack of clarity regarding the valueproposition behind digital implementations. This is why many countries inventory and describe discrete,specific manufacturing digitalization use cases and processes. For example, Germany has documented over A second challenge is that too many U.S. companies seek to go “asset light,” limiting investment in capitalassets to make their balance sheets more favorable to investors. It is beyond the scope of this submission toaddress this issue,but a task force led by Treasury and including other major financial agencies, 2. a. Which disruptive manufacturing technologies (e.g., additive, nanotechnology, biotechnology)hold the potential to eliminate reliance