Notice of Intent to Issue Smart Manufacturing Funding Opportunity Announcement

Office: Advanced Materials and Manufacturing Technologies Office

Available Funding: $33 million

FOA Number: DOE-FOA-0003329

The Advanced Materials and Manufacturing Technologies Office (AMMTO) plans to issue a $33 million Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) focused on smart manufacturing technologies that can contribute to a resilient, responsive, leading-edge, and efficient manufacturing sector that delivers the technologies needed for the nation’s clean energy transition. Smart Manufacturing is the use of advanced technologies and processes—including digitization and artificial intelligence—to improve the technical performance, efficiency, productivity, and competitiveness of the manufacturing sector.

Through this funding opportunity, AMMTO will seek high-impact applied research, development and demonstration (RD&D) projects that will accelerate the adoption of smart manufacturing technologies and processes, helping domestic manufacturers create new, integrated systems and support their competitiveness around the world. 

Topic Areas

Topic 1: Smart Manufacturing for a Circular Economy

Smart manufacturing technologies have the potential to increase the effectiveness of Re-X (recycling, repairing, remanufacturing, etc.) supply chains, creating a more circular economy. This topic is anticipated to focus on smart manufacturing solutions applied to three main circular economy opportunities. First, smart identification, sorting, and grading of materials can help to streamline the identification of feedstock streams that are of consistent and acceptable quality for recycling. Second, smart manufacturing techniques can be used to inform various aspects of repair and remanufacturing, ranging from initial design to component monitoring to disassembly guidance. Finally, smart techniques can be used to improve availability and transparency of data across supply chains to enhance market visibility of secondary materials and support accurate life cycle assessments (LCAs).

Topic 2: Smart Manufacturing for Tooling and Equipment

This topic is anticipated to focus on developing and demonstrating broadly applicable smart manufacturing technologies that can advance manufacturing processes and strengthen supply chains for production of sustainable transportation. Successful projects would make tooling and equipment faster and more economical to produce, reducing defects and enabling new functionalities. Many project innovations will also apply to other clean energy applications. 

Topic 3: Smart Manufacturing for High Performance Materials

Smart manufacturing approaches can accelerate materials advances and corresponding process innovation, ensuring stable, domestic high-performance material supply chains. This topic area is expected to focus on manufacturing processes and fabrication techniques for platform materials for the clean energy transition, such as high-conductivity materials and materials for harsh service conditions. Approaches could include machine learning, physics-informed models, analytical models, or combinations thereof. Methods for tuning manufacturing process parameters to achieve optimal component designs tailored according to application requirements will be encouraged.

Topic 4: Smart Technologies for Sustainable and Competitive US Mining

The topic aims to increase the sustainability and competitiveness of domestic mining operations for critical minerals and materials through smart technologies. The smart technologies would be used for early detection of environmental hazards, such as toxic emissions, degraded water quality, and degraded air quality.  In addition, they would be used to help ensure safety, reliability, efficiency, sustainability, and profitability of mining operations. The data collected and analyzed also has the potential to create more open data sharing, such as to identify by-products of mining operations that could be used for another productive purpose rather than discarding them as waste.

More Information

• Download the full Notice of Intent on the EERE Exchange website.
• Sign up for the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) email list to get notified of new EERE funding opportunities.
• Receive the latest information on AMMTO funding opportunities, events, and other news by subscribing to the monthly Manufacturing Moment newsletter. 

EERE plans to issue the FOA on or around June 2024, with more details to follow.