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38 The PCB Magazine • December 2015 successful in getting printed circuit boards listed in Category 11 for the current ITAR controlled materials catalogue. The GRC has driven initiatives such as the annual IMPACT event on Capitol Hill, which brings business leaders together in Washington to drive for- ward public and private sector collaboration like the National Network for Manufacturing Initiatives (NNMI), a consortium of govern- ment-funded innovation centers with initia- tives that span everything from 3D printing to flexible electronics. After meeting with Jason Miller, special as- sistant to the President and deputy director of the National Economic Council (NEC) to forward the NNMI agenda (Figure 7), IPC has since partnered in two of the initiatives, includ- ing the Digital Manufacturing and Design In- novation Institute in Chicago, Illinois, and the Flexible Hybrid Manufacturing Institute in San Jose, California. In August 2015, Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter announced the award- ing of $75M in federal funding to the Flex Tech Alliance, which will launch the NextFlex inno- vation center in 2016 focused on flexible hybrid electronics, and consist of 160 member compa- nies, and for which IPC will manage the stan- dards portion. One of the keys to this transformation has been the addition of dedicated resources at IPC. Alongside IPC veteran Fern Abrams, who has helped to get IPC to the table to submit lan- guage for the Toxic Substances Control Act re- form in 2015 (TSCA), Mitchell has added Ken Schramko with a background in appropriations, STEM education and R&D policy, and Jon Has- sleman with a background in IP protection, as full-time resources in Washington. Schramko explains that IPC has also "engaged the Prime Policy Group (a professional lobby association) on behalf of IPC to work the beltway channels on key initiatives." This team was successful in getting talking points to Ohio congressman Bill Johnson who was able to articulate several IPC relevant issues in front of an EPA hearing in Washington earlier this year. IS IPC THE PAST OR THE FUTURE OF OUR INDUSTRY? Figure 5: armed General atomic MQ9 reaper drone taxiing. Figure 6: Bhawnesh Mathur and John Mitchell with J.J. raynor, special assistant to the president for economic policy, national economic council at the White house discussing the White house Supply chain Innovation Initiative. Figure 7: Ipc Grc Meeting with Jason Miller, special assistant to the president and deputy director of the national economic council in the White house War room. puTTing iT All TogeTher