A recent study by researchers at Carnegie-Mellon and MIT reinforce growing concern that a loss of manufacturing jobs adversely impacts a nation’s strength in innovation, research and development. For example, the migration of manufacturing from the United States to Asia could be having a significant impact on which advanced technologies are commercialized. There is evidence that the shift is curtailing the development of emerging technologies in areas such as optoelectronics and advanced materials for the automotive industry according to a study.
For years some have advocated that Michigan should “diversify” its economy away from its core automotive and manufacturing sectors as a way of insulating itself from economic volatility and to grow its innovation sectors. But this study adds more evidence that manufacturing is critical to our nation’s future and that Michigan would be well served to retain and grow as much of it as we possibly can.