“The project will operate under the Advanced Functional Fabrics of America, a non-profit founded by MIT that will connect research to companies, companies to workers, and workers and students to education resources for the country’s technical textiles industry. Clemson University will spearhead the education component by developing virtual reality training and digital learning tools to equip employees for the world of tomorrow.”

“It turns out there is no company or university in the world that knows how to do all of this,” said MIT Research Laboratory of Electronics Director Professor Yoel Fink. “Instead of creating a single brick-and-mortar center, we set out to assemble and organize companies and universities that have manufacturing and ‘making’ capabilities into a network — a ‘distributed foundry’ capable of addressing the manufacturing challenges.”