2.S796: Shaping Future Manufacturing: Technology, Innovation, and Ecosystems

Fall | Graduate | Units Arranged | Prereq: none

Manufacturing drives economic growth and is intertwined with innovation and societal well-being. Today, advances in manufacturing are key to a clean energy transition, improving human health, ensuring national security, exploring new worlds, and more. It is widely discussed that digital manufacturing technologies will enable new products and transform factory floors, improve sustainability, and create new, well-paying jobs. Yet, the adoption of technology and the development of advanced manufacturing capabilities is very challenging and requires an understanding of organizations, supply chains, and regional/national ecosystems. 

This course will examine manufacturing from a multidisciplinary perspective, and will focus on: emerging technologies, the structure of supply chains, workforce education systems, and the roles of industrial policy and economic development. Class sessions will combine brief lectures with discussion, and selected topics will be complemented by guest speakers (e.g., industry, startups, and state/government organizations). Each project team (3-4 students) will address a question relating one of the course themes to a specific emerging manufacturing technology and/or industry. A list of candidate topics will be proposed by the instructors, and students will have the opportunity to propose other topics matching their interests.