University of Minnesota

Our Programs

National Commission on Innovation 
and Competitiveness Frontiers

The United States has stood apart from the rest of the world during the past half-century in its record of sustained innovation – across industries old and new, and through the ups and downs of economic cycles – yet today faces new realities and imperatives transforming the context for innovation leadership.

Rapid and accelerating changes in technology have contributed to a turbulent and transforming nature of innovation beyond anything experienced in human history, creating new opportunities for nations around the world to develop their own, distinctive innovation ecosystems. The world today is dramatically more interconnected and fast-paced, making real the potential to spark imagination through shared ideas and networks. The increased access to constantly evolving tools of innovation and emerging business models allow the individual and institution alike to discover, conceptualize, develop and scale a disruptive innovation.

In that vein, the Council launched a new, flagship initiative, the National Commission on Innovation and Competitiveness Frontiers (Commission) – a multi-year national movement to transform the way in which we innovate across the United States, and to drive long-term productivity and inclusive prosperity – is making a tangible impact on rewiring America to succeed in this changing global innovation landscape.

Phase 1 of the National Commission - kicked off in 2019 (learn more about the kick-off by reading its summary, Launch) – generated during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic a seminal report, Competing in the Next Economy, outlining 50+ strategic recommendations to improve U.S. innovation tenfold: 10X.

Phase 2, debuting in Fall 2022 after a “test run” with a major Mountain West Innovation Summit and kicking off in March 2023 at UC Davis, will focus new policy-generating Working Groups four key and connected pillars, outlined in a new concept paper, Competing in the Next Economy: Adapting to a Changing World:

  • The Future of Sustainability
  • The Future of Technology: Developing and Deploying Disruptive Technologies at Speed and Scale
  • The Future of Work: Developing, Supporting, and Expanding the Modern Innovation Workforce in an Era of Creative Destruction
  • The Future of Place-Based Innovation: Broadening and Deepening the U.S. Innovation Ecosystem

Please check back often for the latest updates as the Commission embarks on this new path to move the United States beyond resiliency and into a position to thrive, not in spite of turbulence and transformation, but because of it.

Leadership

Brian T. Moynihan, Chair

Bank of America

Dan Helfrich, Council Business Vice-chair

Deloitte Consulting LLP

Joan Gabel, Academic Vice-Chair

University of Pittsburgh

Kenneth Cooper, Labor Vice-Chair

IBEW

Deborah L. Wince-Smith, President and CEO

Council on Competitiveness

Thom Mason, Director

Los Alamos National Laboratory

Jim Stutelberg, Chief Executive Officer

Primient

Nicole Gresham-Perry, Chief Executive Officer

Primient

Commissioners

Steven F. Ashby
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Dennis Assanis
University of Delaware

Mung Chiang
Purdue University

Jim Clifton
Gallup

Daniel Diermeier
Vanderbilt University

Victor Dzau
National Academy of Medicine

Taylor Eighmy
The University of Texas at San Antonio

Patricia Falcone
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

Greg Fenves
Emory University

Sheryl Handler
Ab Initio

Joseph Harroz, Jr.
University of Oklahoma

Charles O. Holliday, Jr.
Holliday Resources

Steven Isakowitz
The Aerospace Corporation

Robert E. Johnson
Western New England University

Paul Kearns
Argonne National Laboratory

Mehmood Khan
Hevolution Foundation

Pradeep K. Khosla
University of California, San Diego

Timothy L. Killeen
University of Illinois System

René Lammers
PepsiCo, Inc.

Rhea Law
University of South Florida

Harold L. Martin
North Carolina A&T

Gary S. May
University of California, Davis
Sally C. Morton
Arizona State University

Santa Ono
University of Michigan

Joshua Parker
Ancora

James Peery
Sandia National Laboratories

Jeff Peoples
Alabama Power Company

Darryll Pines
University of Maryland

Donde Plowman
University of Tennessee

Alex Rogers
Qualcomm

Edward Seidel

University of Wyoming

Paul P. Skoutelas
American Public Transport Association

Elisa Stephens
Academy of Arts University

Stephen Streiffer
Oak Ridge National Laboratory

Jim Stutelberg
Primient

Andrew Thompson
Summit Schools

Marlene Tromp
Boise State University

Martin Vanderploeg
Workiva

John Wagner
Idaho National Laboratory

Olin L. Wethington
Graham Biosciences LLC

Kim Wilcox
University of California, Riverside

Wendy Wintersteen
Iowa State University

Michael Witherell
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

Paul A. Yarossi
HNTB Holding Ltd.
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