Dan Swinney, executive director of CLCR and the CMRC, will be a guest on the national radio show Beyond the Beltway with Bruce Dumont this Sunday, November 22nd. Dan and Bruce will join Tim Aeppel of The Wall Street Journal to discuss how to invigorate the American manufacturing sector, especially in light of the recession.
Watch the show live online or catch it later on TV. The show will be broadcast in Chicago on Sunday at 10:30pm on WYCC-TV Ch. 20 and in the suburbs on Monday at 11:00pm on Comcast Ch. 3.
Join the discussion during the show by calling 1-800-723-8289 or e-mailingBTB@museum.tv.
In case you miss it, an mp3 will be available for download next week on Beyond the Beltway’s website. We hope you can join us!
Over 150 Chicagoland leaders came together for the Green Collar Jobs and Building a High-Tech Green Economy conference at Oakton Community College on Friday, November 13. Attendees included business, labor, government, education, and community representatives.
US Rep. Jan Schakowsky and Chicago Alderman Manuel Flores both delivered keynote addresses at the event, organized by the Chicago Manufacturing Renaissance council’s North Suburban Chapter. Discussion topics included green economic development, emerging green technologies, and green career paths and training options.
A new study by the Manufacturing Institute illuminates a critical reality in the future of U.S. manufacturing: while domestic manufacturing continues to be a cornerstone of the U.S. economy, it faces significant challenges that threaten its health as the current economic climate intensifies external costs and competition from abroad. The Facts, a report produced in partnership with the U.S. Department of Commerce and the Manufacturers Alliance/ MAPI, provides a glimpse into the strengths of the manufacturing sector as it has kept pace with the overall economy, maintaining a consistent 22 percent market share and increasing its GDP by over 7 times since 1947.
“The facts clearly illustrate that manufacturing is central to America’s economic future,” says Emily Stover DeRocco, president, The Manufacturing Institute. “The United States has the largest manufacturing economy in the world, producing $1.6 trillion in goods annually. Productivity growth is higher in manufacturing than in other sectors, holding down inflation and contributing to a higher standard of living. And one in six U.S. jobs is in or directly tied to manufacturing, which still pays premium wages and benefits.”
Read the full text of the feature-length article about CAAT in Government Technology!
From the article:
Consider this: The Rand Corp., a nonprofit research organization, reported in a 2008 document, U.S. Competitiveness in Science and Technology, that the European Union awarded 41,000 science and engineering doctorates in 2002 compared to America’s 27,000. In the paper, Richard Freeman, a research associate with the National Bureau of Economic Research, forecast that by 2010 Europe will produce twice as many doctorates in the field as the United States, and China will produce about 25 percent more than the U.S.
But an innovative endeavor in Chicago could become an example of how to improve America’s standing. On Sept. 8, 2009, the Chicago Academy of Advanced Technology (CAAT) opened its doors. The academy is the result of an effort — led by Mayor Richard M. Daley and CIO Hardik Bhatt — to fill the need for skilled IT workers and tech-savvy executives at Chicago companies and within city government.
On October 30, CLCR Executive Director Dan Swinney gave a presentation at a Cornell University School of Architecture and Urban Planning colloquium. The event was organized by Dr. Pierre Clavel, noted urban development guru and author of Reinventing Cities: Equity Planners Tell Their Stories.
Swinney summarized the industrial retention efforts of CLCR and the frequent obstacles presented by traditional practices in the field of urban planning. He pointed to the limits of urban planning, which is narrowly focused on land assemblage and design, as well as traditional community development practices that focused on commercial development and real estate.
In cities like Chicago, the foundations of industrial base were being dramatically eroded due to Low Road investment and management practices, as well as the challenges like succession of ownership in small firms. It was this process of de-industrialization that gave rise to the deep urban poverty we see in so many cities. It was a trend of de-industrialization that could have been prevented and reversed by urban planners and community developers if they had focused on the true health of the manufacturing sector.
On Thursday morning, a group of six Microsoft employees paid a visit to CAAT in honor of the Principal for a Day event. Following a light breakfast with a small group of students, the delegation joined the rest of the school for an assembly encouraging students to pursue career opportunities in technology.
After the assembly, each Microsoft representative visited a classroom to speak about their careers and answer questions. The students heard from Shelley Stern Grach, Community Affairs Director; Mary Monroy-Spampinato, Community and Operations Manager; Staci Trackey-Meagher, Enterprise General Manager; Colleen Healey, Financial Services General Manager; George Taylor, Enterprise Sales Manager; and Adam Hecktman, Microsoft Technology Center Director.
Last night, CLCR hosted an event for its board of directors in Austin Polytech’s new world-class machine shop, the Manufacturing Technology Center. Students have not yet used the brand-new shop, but the MTC will be used to help APA students and Austin residents earn industry-recognized NIMS certificates, which will give them an edge in the job market.
At Mayor Daley’s Tech Summit this morning, Chicago Public Schools CEO Ron Huberman urged local technology leaders to support the Chicago Academy for Advanced Technology (CAAT).
An innovative new high school in Chicago, CAAT opened this fall with a class of 150 high school freshmen – all “future leaders in technology,” according to Mr. Huberman.
“We are going to learn how you integrate technology into the curriculum. . . . We can learn from this school and then take what we learn and implement that technology in all schools,” he said.
“Bloom should frame his assignment as a challenge to develop an innovation strategy for the manufacturing sector,” Kuczmarski says, noting that the present economic turmoil offers a golden opportunity to revitalize the threatened industry. He argues that now is the time to position the United States as an attractive base for manufacturers.
“An important part of an innovation strategy is timing, moving when the moment is right. It is equally important to have the courage to make a strategic move when conventional wisdom says there is no hope,” Kuczmarski says. “We should not expect things to simply go back to the way they were. That is where opportunity lies for U.S. manufacturing.”
