Obama to announce new manufacturing hubs for Chicago and location near Detroit

President Barack Obama is satisfying a year-old pledge by announcing the creation of two Pentagon-led institutes that will combine public and private resources to foster manufacturing innovation. One centre will be in Obama’s hometown of Chicago; the other will be outside Detroit.

The Canton, Mich., institute will focus on light metal manufacturing. The one in Chicago will concentrate on high-tech digital manufacturing and design.

Obama will announce the centres today at the White House.

The two institutes fulfill a promise in Obama’s 2013 State of the Union speech to create three manufacturing hubs with a federal infusion of $200 million. He announced the first one in January — an Energy Department-led project in Raleigh, N.C.

The institutes bring together companies, federal agencies and universities to work on technologies that can boost manufacturing.