National Commission on Innovation and Competitiveness Frontiers

1. Concept Paper
2. September 2023 Discussion Guide
3. September 2023 Key Takeaways
4. October 2023 Discussion Guide
5. October 2023 Key Takeaways
6. March 2024 Discussion Guide
7. March 2024 Key Takeaways

Talent is the engine of the U.S. innovation economy. A diverse, skilled, equipped, and empowered workforce is the critical ingredient to maintaining the United States’ pole position in the global race to innovate and compete. World-class talent in science, technology, engineering, mathematics, finance, management, and a wide range of other fields are necessary to consistently bring innovative products, services, and businesses to fruition.

U.S. workers are caught up in a turbulent economy being reshaped by globalization, shifts in economic drivers, hyper global competition to perform the world’s work, and rapid technological change. The economy is now driven by ideas, information, and the constant application of new technology, raising the demand for workers with higher knowledge and skills. New technologies make entirely new forms of work possible—work without humans, work in which humans and technologies form teams, work performed in remote locations and, potentially, entirely novel forms of work organization. The United States must bring our workers along through this period of intense restructuring of how we work to lead the industries of the future. 

In developing the 2020 report, Competing in the Next Economy, the Commission identified key recommendations to address these issues, including increasing funding for federal workforce development programs, embedding innovation-based curriculum into K-12 education, and broadening the “innovator mindset” beyond technical careers to all fields and industries.

In Phase 2 of the National Commission, the working group focused on the Future of Work: Developing, Supporting, and Expanding the Modern Innovation Workforce in an Era of Creative Destruction is striving to answer questions like:

• How can the United States revitalize education and training systems to foster a high-skilled future workforce?
• How can the United States leverage telework capabilities, digitalization, and emerging technologies to augment conventional work?
• How can the United States navigate workforce challenges and opportunities created by increased automation?
• How can the United States adapt to rapid labor force shifts and new models of work organization?
• How can the United States expand efforts to increase diversity and inclusion in the innovation workforce?

To learn more about the National Commission on Innovation & Competitiveness Frontiers, please contact Council on Competitiveness Executive Vice President Chad Evans at [email protected].