US-Africa Planning VIsit: Assessment of Opportunities and Capabilities for Manufacturing Research in Africa

这项国际旅行赠款将探索非洲和美国之间制造业合作研究的机会。三名美国工程师将访问非洲北部、南部、东部和西部的国家。 在访问期间，他们将会见非洲当地的研究人员、工业和技术领导人。 他们亦会访问本地的大学及工业界，以评估本地在合作研究及制造业企业系统的未来发展方面的能力。 为了区分不同规模的制造机会，访问工程师将评估与小型，中型和大型工业相关的制造研究能力。 现有的研究基础设施也将与未来合作研究的优势领域沿着进行评估。 将作出特别努力，以确定可能在美国和非洲产生社会影响的合作领域。 因此，这些可能包括：用于发展向美国出口的制造业的制造企业系统;将研究和教育结合起来，使其能够影响当地培训更多的非洲制造业专门知识，并在不同规模上发展当地的制造能力。 访问结束后，该小组将编写一份初步报告，介绍其调查结果和对未来制造业/制造业研究合作的建议。 这份报告将提交给国家科学基金和在塞内加尔达喀尔举行的非洲监测和评价会议的与会者。 从这两个小组收到的投入/反馈意见将纳入最后报告和一份技术文件，广泛散发并在万维网上提供。

This international travel grant will explore opportunities for collaborative research on manufacturing between Africa and the U.S. Three U.S. engineers will visit countries in the North, South, East and West of Africa. During these visits, they will meet with local African researchers, industrial and technical leaders. They will also visit selected local universities and industries to assess the local capabilities for collaborative research and the future development of manufacturing enterprise systems. In an effort to distinguish between the manufacturing opportunities at different scales, the visiting engineers will assess the capabilities for manufacturing research related to small, medium and large-scale industries. The existing infrastructure for research will also be assessed along with the areas of strength for future collaborative research. A special effort will be made to identify areas of collaboration that could result in societal impact in the U.S. and in Africa. As such, these could include: manufacturing enterprise systems for the development of export-based manufacturing to the U.S.; the integration of research and education in ways that could impact the local training of a larger pool of African manufacturing expertise, and the development of indigenous manufacturing capabilities at different scales. Following the visits, the group will prepare a preliminary report of its findings and recommendations for future collaborations in manufacturing/manufacturing research. This will be presented to the NSF and the participants at the Africa MRS meeting in Dakar, Senegal. The inputs/feedback received from these two groups will then be incorporated into the final report and a technical paper that will be disseminated widely, and made available on the worldwide web.