Other countries are retooling their policies and programs to invest strategically in the building blocks of innovation and economic competitiveness. But the structure of U.S. agencies and the policies they implement haven’t kept pace—one of the reasons why our nation now lags others on key metrics such as educational quality, scientific literacy, research and development, and infrastructure investment.
These competitiveness metrics are important: They determine whether or not the United States will continue to be home to the world’s best jobs, highest standards of living, and greatest economic opportunity for all in the years to come. On Friday, President Barack Obama detailed a new proposal to reorganize federal agencies to create a focus on competitiveness.
On January 19 the Center will host a discussion of the president’s proposal with it’s White House authors and also discuss some other ideas on how to implement reorganization to drive policy change. That day, CAP will publish detailed prescriptions from an array of authors in our series of papers on U.S. science and economic competitiveness. The papers cover topics including: agency reorganization; a proposed “Common Application” to streamline the interface for small businesses in need of federal assistance; federal data and statistics; high-skill workforce development; and university-driven technology innovation.
Introduction by:
John Podesta, Chair and Counselor, Center for American Progress
Opening Remarks by:
Jeffrey Zients, Deputy Director for Management, Office of Management and Budget
Featured Panelists:
Lisa Brown, Executive Director, Government Reform for Competitiveness and Innovation Initiative, Office of Management and Budget
Jonathan Sallet, co-author of "Rewiring the Federal Government for Competitiveness"; former Director of the office of Policy and Strategic Planning, Department of Commerce
Other panelists to be announced.
Moderated by:
John Podesta, Chair and Counselor, Center for American Progress