(NIST: Washington) -- President Obama’s fiscal year (FY) 2013 budget for the Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) submitted to Congress proposes an appropriations funding level of $857 million, an increase of $106.2 million from FY 2012.

More than half of the proposed increased funding would be focused on advanced manufacturing research both at NIST laboratories and through a new industry-led consortia program.

“We want to work with the private sector to ensure U.S. manufacturers have the research support they need to make the best products in the world,” says NIST director, Patrick Gallagher, the Under Secretary of Commerce for Standards and Technology. “Through our laboratory programs and our standards development efforts, we can help American industry be agile, innovative, and competitive.”

The total request of $857 million for NIST is divided into three appropriations.

 …