Advanced manufacturing research institute will set up shop at Pensacola State College
Pensacola State College's main campus will soon host a non-profit research and development institution that will aim to bring advanced manufacturing techniques for the defense industry into Northwest Florida.
FloridaWest Economic Development Alliance and the Pensacola Escambia Promotion and Development Commission (PEDC) announced Tuesday that LIFT, a Michigan-based advanced materials manufacturing innovation institute, will build a satellite location in Pensacola at the PSC campus.
In the announcement, PEDC called the project a "first-of-its-kind" in Florida.
LIFT project: With Triumph support, PSC may add new $21M+ manufacturing innovation institute, $113K jobs
LIFT will be housed in a new $21 million, 38,750-square-foot Manufacturing Center of Excellence on the PSC campus. LIFT will provide $7 million to the project.
The PEDC successfully applied for a $6 million Triumph Gulf Coast grant, which was finalized last week. Space Florida is contributing another $8 million to the project.
"Triumph Gulf Coast was created to support the recovery, diversification and enhancement of the economy in Northwest Florida following the BP oil spill. This is exactly what bringing a cutting-edge, advanced manufacturing innovation institute like LIFT will do,” Triumph Gulf Coast Board Chairman David Bear said in the announcement. "LIFT is developing technologies for the future and developing the next generation of advanced manufacturing talent, enhancing our economy in the Panhandle with outside research dollars being spent in our community."
LIFT will sign a 40-year lease with PSC and enter into a training and education partnership with the school. LIFT will employ 36 people with an average salary of $113,000 a year, FloridaWest officials say.
"As a national manufacturing innovation institute, we have a national mandate to support manufacturers and their workforce wherever we can, and that includes expanding beyond our headquarter facility in Detroit,” Nigel Francis, CEO of LIFT, said in the PEDC announcement. "There is no doubt that innovation is ‘place based,' which means we not only plan to bring the support of our existing ecosystem to support Florida manufacturers and academia, but we plan to develop an engaged ecosystem of local manufacturers and help advance their technologies towards commercialization."
Pensacola State College President Ed Meadows said in the announcement the school has previously worked with LIFT to offer workforce training programs.
"Having worked with LIFT to deliver its Operation Next advanced manufacturing certification program to veterans and other students in the region, we know the value a manufacturing innovation institute can bring to the region and the state, and we are looking forward to their facility being right here on our campus in the future," Meadows said.
According to its website, LIFT operates a 100,000-square-foot "innovation space" in Michigan, where companies can experiment with new manufacturing techniques, train workers and develop prototypes.
LIFT was founded in 2014 as a non-profit, public-private partnership to move the U.S. forward in advanced manufacturing techniques. The institute lists more than 300 member organizations of government agencies, private companies, and universities and colleges.
According to the PEDC's Triumph application, LIFT intends to provide services at its new Pensacola location in advance manufacturing research and development and manufacturing training programs aimed at the defense industry. The application noted Pensacola's location would be able to service military bases and commands across the Southeast like Eglin AFB, Tyndall AFB, SOCOM in Tampa, Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama, USACE WES in Vicksburg, Mississippi, and the Space Coast in Florida.
The institute will focus its first five years of operation by leveraging $32 million in new Department of Defense funding to research hypersonic materials development, ceramics and ceramic composites used in jet engines and integrated computer material engineering virtual support, according to the Triumph grant application.
"We are thrilled to see one of the Department of Defense manufacturing institutes locate in Florida, specifically in the Panhandle, which is home to several military installations critical to our national security," FloridaWest CEO Brian Hilson said in the announcement. "Connecting those installations to an innovative institute like LIFT will not only support our warfighters, but also drive the Northwest Florida economy."
This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: LIFT advanced manufacturing research group coming to PSC
