News
Southern New England Defense and Dual Use Ecosystem
This report describes Rhode Island’s role, potential, opportunities, and vision for Maritime Innovation within the Southern New England Defense and Dual Use Ecosystem.
Meet Polaris: Our New Chapter
Polaris is a nonprofit dedicated to driving business growth, innovation, and job creation in Rhode Island. It is a new organization created to unify its services under a single, accessible name that signifies its role as a trusted advisor and community partner.
Polaris Announces Rebrand to Strengthen Support for Rhode Island Manufacturers and Tech Companies
Polaris is a nonprofit dedicated to driving business growth, innovation, and job creation in Rhode Island. It is a new organization created to unify its services under a single, accessible name that signifies its role as a trusted advisor and community partner.
Disaster Preparedness: How Measurement Science Can Help Your Community
Disasters are low-probability but high-cost events, and that better measurement science — from valuing co-benefits to quantifying risk preferences — can make tough preparedness decisions more data-driven and easier for officials and residents to understand.
Rhode Island’s Economic Growth is Tied to the Ocean
Polaris is a nonprofit dedicated to driving business growth, innovation, and job creation in Rhode Island. It is a new organization created to unify its services under a single, accessible name that signifies its role as a trusted advisor and community partner.
What Must Change for Artificial Intelligence to Pay Off?
AI success is now an operating-model issue, not a technology issue, and calls for leaders to start with the work itself: mapping where rules versus judgment are needed, identifying high-impact failure points and treating AI as a teammate to onboard, not software to install.
How Standards and Testing Will Help Keep Self-Driving Vehicles Moving Safely on the Road
All aspects of human driving — instinctive decisions, driver collaborations and interacting with road infrastructure — must be replicated for automated driving. Many experts believe humans still have an edge over today’s technologies, but technology is rapidly improving. Industry, government and other partners are working toward replicating these aspects of human driving for automated vehicles (AVs) and building a supporting infrastructure.
NIST Engineers Design 5 New Ways to Connect Concrete Pieces for More Resilient Buildings
NIST engineers have introduced five new ways to connect precast concrete components that significantly enhance building resilience.
How Do Recycling Facilities Sort Different Kinds of Plastic?
When scientists need even more details about the composition of a plastic, they can use lab techniques that involve dissolving the plastic in a solvent, sometimes while heating. After dissolving a sample, the scientist might examine it using a technique called size exclusion chromatography, which takes advantage of the fact that smaller molecules move more slowly than bigger ones through a column or tube packed with porous beads.
Pawtucket Manufacturer’s Forum Provides Lively Conversation and Insights
On Tuesday, December 9, 2025, various manufacturers gathered at the Cooley Group’s Pawtucket headquarters for a stimulating conversation on the current state of Rhode Island manufacturing.
How Can Companies Improve Sustainability Efforts?
In a feature for Material Handling & Logistics, Indrani de Silva of Sphera explains that although many companies now publish ESG commitments, a surprising number still lack the systems and supplier engagement needed to deliver meaningful improvements.
The Toll of Tariffs
Rhode Island’s manufacturing sector remains a major contributor to the state’s economy. And many of those companies are under tremendous stress, according to a survey conducted in June by R.I. Commerce Corp., the Rhode Island Manufacturers Association and Polaris MEP.
AI in Manufacturing: What’s Now—and What’s Next?
IndustryWeek’s coverage by MIT Professor Wojciech Matusik spotlights artificial intelligence as a transformative force in manufacturing, pushing adoption beyond experimentation to everyday business impact.
Overconfidence in Cybersecurity Strategy Puts Supply Chains at Risk
New research from NCC Group [link: https://www.nccgroup.com/] highlighted in Material Handling & Logistics News reveals a troubling gap between perception and reality in supply chain cybersecurity preparedness.
Nuclear in Your Backyard? Tiny Reactors Could One Day Power Towns
In her Manufacturing.net article, “Nuclear in Your Backyard? Tiny Reactors Could One Day Power Towns,” Aditi Verma, Assistant Professor at the University of Michigan, explores how the next wave of microreactors could reshape the nuclear energy landscape.
Shedding Light on the Future of Metal 3D Printing
NIST researcher Brian Gutierrez is illuminating a breakthrough approach that uses laser light reflections—called caustics—to reveal defects in metal 3D printing in real time.
Companies seek ‘next-generation’ makers at Manufacturing Day 2025
A shortage of qualified workers remains a familiar concern for Rhode Island’s manufacturing leaders in attendance at RI’s Future in the Making 2025. PBN’s Jacquelyn Voghel spoke with Doug Travers of Herrick & White and Rose Wood of Neocorp.
Hundreds of Rhode Island Students Explore Local Manufacturing Careers at Manufacturing Day 2025
Despite the gloomy weather, Rhode Island’s next generation of makers gathered at Farm Fresh Rhode Island on October 8th for the fourth annual Manufacturing Day Career Exploration Experience, hosted by Polaris MEP.
