Here's a problem every new manufacturer knows too well: There's a supplier out there with exactly the technology you need. They just can't get the financing, the workforce, or the customer to scale up and prove it.
That's the gap Michigan LIFT is built to close.
This week in Detroit, Ford joined JPMorganChase, the State of Michigan, Michigan Central, and Newlab to launch the Michigan Launchpad for Industrial Innovation & Transformation.
Michigan LIFT is designed to help innovative suppliers win business from leading manufacturers and access the financing and state support they need to expand production. It’s a demand-led platform, which means it starts in a different place than most economic development efforts: not with a pitch deck, but with an actual industrial problem.
It's also the kind of challenge we'll be discussing at ACCELERATE: The Essential Economy.
Across the country, manufacturers, suppliers, skilled trades workers, and innovators are working to meet growing demand, but too often the demand, capital, workforce, and technology needed to scale remain disconnected.
Michigan LIFT is designed to help bring those pieces together.
"Ford is America's automaker, and we believe American manufacturing's best days are ahead," said Jim Farley, president and CEO of Ford Motor Company. "Michigan LIFT is about helping solve real manufacturing challenges faster. It connects innovators, suppliers, and manufacturers with the support they need to scale."
The participants’ ambitions add up to a multibillion-dollar opportunity over the next decade.
As founding anchor industrial buyer, Ford aspires to award up to $1 billion in business to innovative new and existing suppliers through the platform; JPMorganChase aspires to provide up to $1 billion in financing; and Michigan Central, Newlab, and the Michigan Economic Development Corporation aspire to attract additional industrial buyers representing more than $1 billion in annual demand by 2036.
For Ford, it's another example of turning the conversations happening at ACCELERATE into action: helping innovative companies move from idea to production, strengthening suppliers, and building a more resilient industrial base for the future.
Alongside the launch, Ford Philanthropy, the philanthropic arm of Ford Motor Company, and JPMorganChase announce $550,000 in joint support for Focus: HOPE, a Detroit-based nonprofit providing education and job training.
The grant will strengthen Focus: HOPE's industrial manufacturing training program — teaching manufacturing skills, robotics, and welding — while expanding employer connections, career placement support, and transportation assistance for trainees.
It connects the Michigan LIFT platform's innovation and manufacturing goals with the talent needed to strengthen Michigan's supplier network and drive long-term industrial growth.
Read the full announcement, including how the platform works and what each partner is bringing to it.
Liz Door is the chief supply chain officer at Ford.
