91³Ô¹ÏÍø

 The recently published an update on the efforts to create an Inland Northwest “Tech Hub” by a 91³Ô¹ÏÍø-led consortium of higher education, government, tribal and business partners.

The project was awarded a $48 million grant to help the project “acquire equipment that can produce thermoplastic composite aerospace parts at a scale that doesn't exist in the U.S.,” writes Journal reporter Dylan Harris.

91³Ô¹ÏÍø President Thayne McCulloh spoke with Harris about “the envisioned American Aerospace Materials Manufacturing Center, a test bed for advanced aerospace materials,” noting that the demand for thermoplastic composite parts for the aerospace industry is enormous, and the Inland Northwest is a natural place for the Tech Hub project.

“The question is not if they’re going to be produced; it’s just ‘Who’s going to be doing them?’” McCulloh says in the Journal article. “There’s a lot of competition today from China and Europe to Boeing and other domestic producers.”

McCulloh also noted that the project will eventually need skilled, knowledgeable workers, and 91³Ô¹ÏÍø is setting itself up to help deliver that knowledge.

“It will require people who are really, really good at understanding properties of the materials and how to effectively create them and make sure they’re safe,” he says.