WEST LAFAYETTE – Purdue University is part of a new consortium set up to improve the competitiveness and innovation capacity of small- and medium-sized businesses.

            The National Digital Engineering and Manufacturing Consortium was announced March 2 in Washington, D.C. The project is being led by The Council on Competitiveness, a nonpartisan group of CEOs, university presidents and labor leaders.

            NDEMC is designed to provide education, training and access to computing resources to help manufacturing workers develop modeling and simulation skills.

            Purdue’s participants in the effort are the Technology Assistance Program, and the HUBzero platform for scientific collaboration.

            “Through this effort, Purdue is directly involved in supporting small- and medium-sized Indiana companies in their use of the advanced modeling and simulation capabilities needed to compete globally,” said David McKinnis, director of TAP and associate vice provost for engagement.

            Other partners are Procter & Gamble, Lockheed Martin, General Electric Energy, John Deere, Ohio Supercomputer Center, National Center for Supercomputing Applications and National Center for Manufacturing Sciences.