The United States faces fierce competition from other countries in emerging technologies. Our fiercest competitor is China, which is reaping the benefits of decades of heightened R&D investment, absorption and theft of foreign technologies and IP, and expanded geopolitical engagement. Falling behind strategic competitors like China in the global innovation race would severely undermine U.S. competitiveness for decades. This growing threat has underscored the need to strengthen the United States’ position as an innovation superpower to sustain its economic and national security strength.
The technologies that are reshaping society and the global economy are being rapidly developed and deployed. It is estimated that artificial intelligence (AI) systems alone could contribute $16 trillion to global GDP by 2030, making AI the largest commercial opportunity in the next economy. The ongoing convergence between disruptive technologies is what will revolutionize industries and create new competitive advantages for nations that lead their development.
In the 2020 report, Competing in the Next Economy, the Commission identified ten critical technologies with the greatest potential to create economic and societal value over the coming decades:
In Phase 2 of the National Commission, the Developing and Deploying Disruptive Tech at Speed and Scale working group is striving to answer questions like:
- How can the United States harness technologies and their convergence to expand its global competitiveness in industries of the future?
- How can the United States drive homegrown innovations in these areas?
- How can the United States build the domestic ecosystem to go from “lab to market” with minimum dependency on other nations, especially those who do not share our values or strategic interests?
- If the United States can’t do it alone, how can it build strategic partnerships with others?
- How can the United States bolster the security, resiliency, and reliability of critical supply chains?
Gabrielle Allan
University of Wyoming
Errol Arkilic
University of California, Irvine
David A. Bader
NJIT
Varadharajan Basker
PepsiCo
Emily Boies
University of Illinois, Springfield
Carol Burns
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Thomas Campbell
FutureGrasp, LLC
Mike Cassidy
Emory University
Dean Chang
University of Maryland
Walter Copan
Colorado School of Mines
Dave Copps
Worlds, Inc.
Deborah L. Crawford
The University of Tennessee, Office of Research, Innovation and Economic Development
Dona Crawford
Lawrence Livermore Foundation
Candace Culhane
Los Alamos National Laboratory
Rebecca Cunningham
University of Michigan
Raissa d'Souza
University of California, Davis
Peter Dorhout
Iowa State University
Deborah Ann Frincke
Sandia National Laboratories
Tommy Gardner
HP Inc.
Michelle Gribbins
University of Illinois, Springfield
Joanna Groden
University of Illinois at Chicago
Robert Hoekstra
Sandia National Laboratories
Paul Hommert
Sandia National Laboratories
Justine Johaness
Sandia National Laboratories
Pradeep Khosla
University of California, San Diego
Jim Kroes
Boise State
Kelvin Lee
University of Delaware
Christina Lomasney
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Susan Martinis
University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign
Tom Mildenhall
Bank of America
Mark Minevich
Going Global Ventures
Ali Nejadmalayeri
University of Wyoming
Joseph Pancrazio
University of Texas at Dallas
Lizy Paul
Lockheed Martin
Albert Pisano
University of California, San Diego
Todd Pray
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Shashank Priya
University of Minnesota
Irene Qualters
Los Alamos National Laboratory
Padma Raghavan
Vanderbilt University
Ramamoorthy Ramesh
Rice University
Toby Redshaw
Verus Advisory
Daniel Reed
University of Utah
Jeff Rhoads
University of Notre Dame
Gene Robinson
University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign
Thomas Ruhe
NCIDEA
Jaclyn L. Shaw
Tufts University
Roland Stephen
SRI International
Jed Taylor
University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign
Maria Toyoda
Western New England University
Ed Vasko
Boise State
Marianne Walck
Idaho National Laboratory
To learn more about the National Commission on Innovation & Competitiveness Frontiers, please contact Council on Competitiveness Executive Vice President Chad Evans at [email protected].
