No, it is not a giant Shapeways order, the Obama administration has announced as part of it’s We Can’t Wait public-private partnership that it will invest $30 Million to fund the National Additive Manufacturing Innovation Institute matched by $40 million from a consortium in in Youngstown, Ohio, turning the Rust-Belt into the Laser Sintered Belt?

Youngstown, Ohio and the surrounding region knows what happens when manufacturing production declines. But in this area once known as the ‘rust belt’, investments like this new pilot institute demonstrate the potential within a region to bring together the capabilities of America’s companies and universities, in partnership with the federal government, to invest in the cutting-edge technologies and skills our manufacturers need to compete. With this initiative, Youngstown is poised to become the epicenter of burgeoning new industries from its leadership in additive manufacturing or 3-D printing.