OREANDA-NEWS.  Today, Walmart U.S. President and CEO Bill Simon joined 280 of the nation’s mayors in Washington, D.C., at the U.S. Conference of Mayors Meeting to announce a new fund for innovation in American manufacturing and a new supplier commitment to bring production of bikes and jobs to South Carolina.

The USD 10 million fund for innovation:
Walmart and the Walmart Foundation will fund the five-year program and work in collaboration with the U.S. Conference of Mayors to launch it in March. The fund will provide grants to innovators in the manufacturing sector and seeks to create new processes, ideas, and jobs that support America’s growing manufacturing footprint.

“If we want to grow manufacturing and help rebuild America’s middle class, we need the brightest minds in our universities, in our think tanks, and in our towns to tackle obstacles to U.S. manufacturing,” said Simon. “The USD 10 million fund will identify and award leaders in manufacturing innovation and help us all work together to create opportunity.”

Last year Walmart announced that it will buy an additional USD 50 billion in American products. That's USD 50 billion more than it does today 10 years from now. Walmart estimates that its USD 50 billion pledge, in the 10th year, will result in Walmart buying an additional USD 250 billion cumulatively over the next 10 years. This pledge is in an effort to grow U.S. manufacturing and encourage the creation of U.S. jobs.

The Boston Consulting Group predicts that this USD 250 billion investment will create one million jobs, when you include the jobs in manufacturing and related services.