Today, our nation faces new realities and imperatives as sweeping change across many dimensions is upending the innovation leadership landscape. The increased access to constantly evolving tools of innovation and emerging business models allows for an unprecedented democratization and redefinition of “place,” and it makes it possible for individuals and institutions to discover, conceptualize, develop, and scale innovation as never before. 

That’s why, starting in 2024 and extending over the next three years, and under the auspices of the National Commission on Innovation and Competitiveness Frontiers, the Council will join its members in their regions to uncover the most cutting-edge and emerging innovation best practices and policies unfurling across our diverse, continental economy – and in highlighting them, amplifying them for national scale-up.

Each Competitiveness Conversation will feature — in its own distinctive way — the leaders representing the local and regional innovation ecosystem.

Through the Competitiveness Conversations, the Council will develop a roadmap that aligns with the National Commission’s four pillars supporting U.S. innovation.

Competitiveness Conversations Across America - The Confirmed Calendar

• April 25-26, 2024 – Nashville, TN: A Competitiveness Conversation: Tennessee – Redefining Place & Building the Future Innovation Ecosystem for Mobility, Energy & Manufacturing co-chaired by Vanderbilt University Chancellor Daniel Diermeier and University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Chancellor Donde Plowman, and led by a robust, multi-sector Steering Committee.
• August 6-8, 2024 – Boise, ID: A Competitiveness Conversation in the Mountain West: Powering and Securing Innovation — Semiconductors, Clean Energy, Advanced Nuclear, and Cybersecurity co-chaired by Boise State University President Marlene Tromp and Idaho National Laboratory Director John Wagner.
• September 9-10, 2024 – West LaFayette, IN: A Competitiveness Conversation: Chips, Qubits, and Molecules — Innovation in the Midwest co-chaired by Purdue University President Mung Chiang, Argonne National Laboratory Director Paul Kearns, and University of Illinois System President Tim Killeen.

This page will be updated as details become available.

To learn more about the Competitiveness Conversations Across America initiative, please contact Council EVP Chad Evans: [email protected].