June 13--The National Composite Center in Kettering has won its first formal grant focused on creating an aerospace manufacturing technology hub in the Dayton region, the center's top official said.
The state's Edison Advanced Manufacturing Program awarded a $500,000 grant to the Composite Center for the development of a technology hub with international aircraft manufacturer Airbus, said Lisa Novelli, the center's president and chief executive.
Novelli said the state funds will help NCC implement the hub's technology concept.
"This gives us the working capital to set the structure up and meet the needs of what Airbus and the industry is looking for on this program," she said.
The NCC also has submitted a $2.7 million grant proposal to the Ohio Third Frontier's Innovative Platform Program, that would help establish the physical technology hub. Those awards are expected to be announced in late summer.
Novelli said she feels "confident" about the latter proposal after two years of working on the program with Airbus.
First announced in 2012, the hub program would offer lower-tier suppliers access to training, certification and innovative technology in Computer Numeric Control-based manufacturing in the aerospace industry.
The program will "augment the aerospace supply chain and competitively position Ohio companies for the commercial aviation global market expansion opportunity," according to an Edison AMP evaluation of NCC's proposal that was obtained by this newspaper.
The NCC is a non-profit incubator for materials, technology and economic development companies, located at Kettering Business Park.
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