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Industry 4.0

Industry 4.0 refers to a new phase in the Industrial Revolution that focuses heavily on interconnectivity, automation, machine learning, and real-time data. Industry 4.0, which encompasses IIoT and smart manufacturing, marries physical production and operations with smart digital technology, machine learning, and big data to create a more holistic and better-connected ecosystem for companies that focus on manufacturing and supply chain management.

Pentagon Launches $9M Detroit Program to Cut China’s Grip on Critical Defense Materials

Why China’s Dominance in Critical Materials Is a National Security Risk DETROIT — A new Pentagon-backed program anchored in Detroit is taking direct aim at a growing national security threat: U.S. dependence on China and other foreign adversaries for the advanced materials needed to build next-generation weapons systems. The four-year, $9 million Critical Materials Processing

By |2026-03-19T15:52:01-04:00March 19th, 2026|ESD, Government/Politics, Industry 4.0, Politics, Politics/Government|
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Michigan Already Plays a Role in the $200 Billion AI Chip Boom

Companies in Michigan are already supplying critical materials, engineering expertise, and manufacturing technologies used to build the semiconductor chips powering the global artificial intelligence revolution. Artificial Intelligence Is Driving a Massive Chip Investment Boom DETROIT - Artificial intelligence is fueling one of the largest technology investment waves in decades. Companies developing AI systems—from cloud computing

By |2026-03-11T14:12:34-04:00March 11th, 2026|Industry 4.0|
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Ann Arbor’s 2026 Electronics Drop-Off March 9-24

ANN ARBOR — The City of Ann Arbor Office of Sustainability and Innovations will be offering several opportunities for residents to responsibly dispose of household electronics at collection events and drop-off receptacles in locations across the city throughout the 2026 calendar year. The first opportunity will come March 9 through March 24, 2026, at a

By |2026-03-02T19:14:53-05:00March 2nd, 2026|Announcements/New Products, Clean Update, Industry 4.0|
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AI’s Power Surge: What It Means For Michigan Industry

Artificial intelligence growth is increasing electricity demand across manufacturing, data centers and grid infrastructure in Michigan. DETROIT - Artificial Intelligence is often framed as a software revolution. But for Michigan’s economy, AI is rapidly becoming something else: a power story. From advanced manufacturing plants to defense contractors and emerging data centers, AI requires one critical

By |2026-02-15T17:29:01-05:00February 15th, 2026|ESD, Industry 4.0|
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Gordie Howe Bridge Dispute Raises Stakes for Michigan Trade, Manufacturing

Commercial trucks queue on the Ambassador Bridge connecting Detroit and Windsor. The Detroit-Windsor corridor carries roughly one-quarter of U.S.-Canada trade. DETROIT - The nearly completed Gordie Howe International Bridge was designed to reduce risk in one of North America’s most critical trade corridors. Now it is at the center of a political dispute that could

By |2026-02-13T10:03:57-05:00February 13th, 2026|Featured, Industry 4.0, News|
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What A New Robotics Survey Signals — And Why Elon Musk’s Humanoid Robots Matter

DETROIT - A new industry survey from Universal Robots makes one thing clear: artificial intelligence is leaving the screen and entering the physical world. After a decade in which AI’s biggest breakthroughs were digital — search, analytics, and generative models — the next phase is about machines that can see, decide, and act in real

By |2026-02-01T11:02:44-05:00February 1st, 2026|Artificial Intelligence, Industry 4.0|
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$260,000 Available To Help Michigan Manufacturers Launch Employee Transportation Programs

LANSING — The Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity is encouraging manufacturers and their workforce/non-profit partners to apply for a share of $260,000 in funding to develop and implement transportation programs that improve employee retention, productivity and access to work. The Reliable Rides Incentive Grant Pilot Program builds on the recently-released Reliable Rides: Connecting

By |2026-01-12T18:29:56-05:00January 12th, 2026|Industry 4.0, New Products, New Products / Contracts|
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Aircraft Batteries Emerge As A Strategic Niche—And Michigan Knows How To Play It

ANN ARBOR - As transportation electrification accelerates, batteries have become the central technology reshaping everything from electric vehicles rolling off Michigan assembly lines to experimental aircraft preparing for first flight. While the automotive electric vehicle battery market continues to explode in size, a quieter — but strategically important — opportunity is emerging in aircraft batteries.

By |2026-01-09T15:24:06-05:00January 9th, 2026|ESD, Industry 4.0|
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Humanoid Robots: Sports vs. Factory Capabilities — Same Skills, Different Stakes

DETROIT - In arenas from Beijing to Tokyo, humanoid robots are no longer just lab curiosities—they’re competing in soccer matches, running races and boxing bouts, testing balance, vision and real-time decision-making in front of spectators. At the World Humanoid Robot Games in Beijing this past year, more than 500 bipedal robots from across the globe—including

By |2026-01-04T18:21:40-05:00January 4th, 2026|ESD, Featured, Industry 4.0|
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AI-Assisted Full-Stack Developer Internship – Zorp Video MVP

ANN ARBOR - Zorp Video is an innovation-driven platform that helps organizations capture, manage, and search internal video knowledge. We turn workplace know-how into searchable, shareable insights—accelerating innovation across manufacturing, engineering, and industrial sectors. We’re building a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) that integrates AI for transcription, search, and chat retrieval. The project demonstrates how video knowledge capture

By |2026-01-07T15:31:52-05:00December 8th, 2025|ESD, Featured, Industry 4.0|
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