Categories
Up To Speed

Could Queensgate become an American hub for advanced manufacturing?

Could Queensgate become an American hub for advanced manufacturing?.

Cincinnati leaders have been looking for a way to transform the region’s industrial Mill Creek Valley. With a possible new program designed at training people in advanced manufacturing, might this be a new opportunity for Queensgate and the other neighborhoods in the valley? More from Next City:

The cutely named “Race to the Shop” is envisioned as a $150 million competition that would let cities and states vie for federal funding to support long-term strategic investment in workforce development for the advanced manufacturing sector…The policy recommendation is one of three focused on strengthening the American manufacturing sector — a sector that disproportionately affects cities (79.5 percent of manufacturing jobs are located in major metropolitan areas).

One of the proposals recommend congressional funding of at least 25 advanced industry innovation hubs themed around specific interests, some of which have an environmental silver lining such as carbon capture and storage. Modeled after the Department of Energy’s Energy Innovation Hubs program, which has its flagship site in Philadelphia, and the Department of Commerce’s National Network for Manufacturing Innovation (NNMI), the hubs would be industry-led alliances of public, private and academic actors organized regionally.

By Randy A. Simes

Randy is an award-winning urban planner who founded UrbanCincy in May 2007. He grew up on Cincinnati’s west side in Covedale, and graduated from the University of Cincinnati’s nationally acclaimed School of Planning in June 2009. In addition to maintaining ownership and serving as the managing editor for UrbanCincy, Randy has worked professionally as a planning consultant throughout the United States, Korea and the Middle East. After brief stints in Atlanta and Chicago, he currently lives in the Daechi neighborhood of Seoul’s Gangnam district.