Dear Council on Competitiveness Community,
As summer winds down and we approach Labor Day, the Council team and I have been reflecting on how much the competitive landscape has changed since the Council’s founding in 1986. The global competitiveness landscape has shifted dramatically in 40 years. And unprecedented waves of technological revolutions – and the ensuing innovations in their wake – continue to crest and crash on our shores, further changing the competitiveness ecosystem in which we now live and work. The emerging and converging transformations in AI, quantum, biotechnology, advanced manufacturing, and new forms of energy are reshaping the productivity, prosperity, and security foundations of our society.
Against this backdrop, our Board, Executive Committee, and National Commission are guiding a competitiveness landscape analysis to assess the United States’ position across the critical capabilities that enable innovation-based competitiveness, as well as the strategic technologies and industries that will shape the next economy. At the same time, our Competitiveness Conversations Across America series, now with more than a dozen regional summits complete, is providing a ground-level view of the assets driving the next economy.
These efforts are helping the Council identify where bold action can make the greatest difference in advancing the nation’s competitiveness for decades to come, including through the Council-led AIM Zones (American Innovation and Manufacturing Zones) initiative to accelerate development of the “next economy’s” manufacturing capitals and regions – with the full research, job creation, and firm creation centered in the United States. We are also developing with partners in our membership a set of “Smart Regulation and Standards Principles” for the “next economy" – ensuring we create the framework of policies that will strengthen manufacturing-based innovation and competitiveness in the United States. And we will be advancing our work on the future of the U.S. bioeconomy into a new phase – launching early this fall a series of virtual working sessions.
This work is building up to the 40th Anniversary Gala Dinner and 2026 National Competitiveness Forum, December 16–17 at the Willard InterContinental in Washington, D.C. During the capstone of our 40th year, we will launch our 2026 Competitiveness call to action and 10X transformative recommendations for the future. Registration for the 2026 NCF is open, and Council members receive a significant registration discount (please email Chad Evans for your special code).
NCF sponsorships are also available and provide valuable visibility while supporting our flagship event and broader Council work. I want to thank Procter & Gamble, the University of Colorado Boulder, the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, the University of Texas at San Antonio, and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory for stepping forward as early sponsors, and I hope all of our members will join them as NCF sponsors.
Let me close with an exciting update. This September the Council team will be packing up and moving into a new headquarters in Washington, DC. Remaining downtown and just steps from the White House, our new home will be a platform for convening our member and policymakers shaping U.S. competitiveness. We will look forward to welcoming you all to the new space in the months to come, as we officially move in October 1.
Sincerely,
Deborah L. Wince-Smith
President & CEO
Council on Competitiveness
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Read the full edition of the August 2026 Compete Connect newsletter, including much more about the Council's upcoming engagement opportunities and initiatives led by Council Members, below:
