“Over the last decade, hundreds of the world’s top experts in additive manufacturing have pioneered the development of new standards through ASTM International. We are thrilled to take this next bold step to bridge standards development with R&D, while also meeting the growing demand for related services in this field,” said ASTM International President Katharine Morgan.
This new center is set to advance the technical standards, education and training, and related research and development efforts in the field of additive manufacturing. To further its role as a global innovation hub, it will have capabilities to support education, training, and testing, in order to help users figure out the best ways to fix industry gaps. Additionally, it will also be a consortium to attract stakeholders from outside industries that are putting the technology to increasingly good use in their separate applications. According to the RFP, industry-university collaborative activities of the ASTM AM CoE include hosting workshops and events, creating national and international industry-university partnerships, and setting up testing, training, and certification programs.
ASTM is now accepting proposals, only from universities and organizations, to set up the center as a partnership. It will not accept cost sharing for proposals, and applicants will need to put an emphasis on approaches that will use collaboration and coordination between government, academia, and industry. Proposals will be evaluated through a combined review process of peer review panel meetings and independent reviews, and will be judged on the following criteria:
- Adherence to Originality and Innovativeness of AM Research
- Standard-Centeredness
- AM Impact and Cooperative Linkages
- AM Sector-Connectedness
- Industry-Relevant Research
ASTM will also take into account an applicant’s qualifications, center capabilities, facilities, and related experiences, and anticipates choosing up to two awards for this initiative. To learn more details about the proposal process, such as format, frequently asked questions, and the review and selection process, you can take a look at the Final RFP here. There’s not much time to waste – electronic letters of intent are due in one week, by noon EST on November 27th, and full proposals are due by 5 PM EST on December 15th. All applicants will be informed of ASTM’s final decision in writing by January of 2018.
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[Source: ASTM International]