The Youngstown, Ohio “manufacturing innovation institute” that President Obama mentioned in the section on manufacturing in his State of the Union Address on Tuesday had already been receiving a lot of attention this past month after it was featured by the high profile Brookings Metropolitan Policy Program and The Rockefeller Foundation as an “Innovation to Watch.” Here are a few more details about this still early stages 3D printing hub, via 3ders.org:

The National Additive Manufacturing Innovation Institute (NAMII), the newly launched initiative to scale the use of additive manufacturing (3D printing), was named as one of the top 10 “Innovations to Watch” by The Brookings Metropolitan Policy Program and The Rockefeller Foundation.

This year’s list of “Innovations to Watch” represents the most forward-thinking and effective solutions that are now being implemented by America’s states and metropolitan areas in the arenas of low carbon, exports, human capital, innovation, and governance. The innovations are part of the Brookings-Rockefeller Project on State and Metropolitan Innovation, which presents fiscally-responsible state policies and practical metropolitan-led solutions that leaders can use to move toward the next economy.

Last August, Youngstown was announced as the headquarters for a $70 million public-private pilot institute to exploit opportunities resulting from 3D printing….

The Institute is housed in a 10,000-square foot section of the Youngstown Business Incubator. Officials with the Youngstown Business Incubator stressed that NAMII won’t actually make anything in Youngstown. Instead, it will serve as a research lab, with workers looking for ways to make additive manufacturing more user friendly, less expensive and more efficient, allowing more companies to consider using it to make the products they need.

Read more.

Every Thursday is #3dthursday here at Adafruit! The DIY 3D printing community has passion and dedication for making solid objects from digital models. Recently, we have noticed electronics projects integrated with 3D printed enclosures, brackets, and sculptures, so each Thursday we celebrate and highlight these bold pioneers!

Have you considered building a 3D project around an Arduino or other microcontroller? How about printing a bracket to mount your Raspberry Pi to the back of your HD monitor? And don’t forget the countless LED projects that are possible when you are modeling your projects in 3D!

The Adafruit Learning System has dozens of great tools to get you well on your way to creating incredible works of engineering, interactive art, and design with your 3D printer! If you’ve made a cool project that combines 3D printing and electronics, be sure to let us know, and we’ll feature it here!