The Council on Competitiveness (www.compete.org) is the only group of corporate CEOs, university presidents and labor leaders committed to the future prosperity of all Americans and enhanced U.S. competitiveness in the global economy through the creation of high value economic activity in the United States.
A nonpartisan, nongovernmental organization in Washington D.C., the Council shapes the debate on competitiveness by bringing together business, labor academic and government leaders to evaluate economic challenges and opportunities. Conferences, seminars and special events are used to disseminate the Council's findings and recommendations to experts, policy makers, government officials, media and the general public.
The unique Council on Competitiveness tripartite membership is committed to addressing the competitiveness of the United States at the national, regional, organizational and individual levels. The world is continuously changing, economies experience disruptions, supply chains are expanding and extending, and competitors and collaborators are now often one and the same. What these paradigm shifts mean for the competitiveness of the U.S. economy is the subject of public concern and political debate. Through examining key drivers of competitiveness, the Council believes the power of its private sector leadership networks, ideas and research will guide the debate about or concerning America's path to long term prosperity.
KEYS TO COMPETE: Drive Innovation and Entrepreneurship; Engage the Global Economy; Manage Risk and Achieve Resilience; Secure Energy and Create Sustainability; Win the Skills Race.
A rising standard of living for all Americans is not guaranteed. The United States now operates in a truly global economy: Companies are outsourcing and spreading their value chains globally; Hundreds of nations are trading ten of trillions of dollars daily in financial markets; Strong markets and talent pools have emerged in the developing world; Business and governments operate across highly integrated regional economics; Vast communications networks allow for immediate global connectivity and information transfer and also create unprecedented vulnerabilities; News risks, such as competition for natural resources, climate change and terrorism, now effect the competitiveness of countries, companies and communities.
Whether our citizens and businesses will thrive in the new global economy depends largely on our ability to understand and act upon these prevailing forces of change and attract high value economic activity to regions across America.
COMPETE 2.0: How will America compete in the future global economy in which new competitors exert increasing economic power? How will globalization of enterprised critical networks and skilled work forces affect America's competitiveness? The Compete 2.0 initiative takes a close look at these competitiveness challenges in talent, investment and infrastructure - benchmarking the empirical trends and charting a strategic path to a more prosperous future.
ENERGY, SECURITY, INNOVATION & SUSTAINABILITY: Energy security and sustainability directly impact the productivity of U.S. companies and the standard of living for all Americans, making them key U.S. competitiveness issues. The goal of the Energy Security, Innovation and Sustainability (ESIS) initiative is to drive private sector demand for sustainable energy solutions and to support the creation of new industries, markets and jobs.
GLOBAL INNOVATION: The goal of the Council's Global Initiative is to improve the ability of U.S. firms to access and succeed in global markets. This is achieved by focusing on the role of corporate stewardship to support innovation driven growth abroad, impact trade and foreign policy goals and address key global competitiveness challenges. The Global Initiative builds strategic innovation partnerships among public and private sector leaders in the United States and abroad to address the changing nature of global competition.
HIGH PERFORMANCE COMPUTING (HPC): The Council has brought together a group of 40 executives representing private and public sector supercomputer users, hardware and software developers, and government funding agencies. The initiative is intended to stimulate and facilitate wider range usage of HPC across the private to propel productivity and competitiveness.
NATIONAL INNOVATION: With the United States facing new challenges to its global leadership in innovation, the Council launched the National Innovation Initiative (NII). More than 500 leaders from industry, academia, government and the non-profit sector were brought together to meet these challenges. The NII set the goals to create a consensus for action, sharpen our understanding of changes in the innovation process, and advocate an agenda to make the United States to most fertile and attractive environment for innovation.
REGIONAL INNOVATION: Even as technology, capital and knowledge diffuse internationally, the levers of national prosperity are, in fact, becoming more localized. In response to this trend, the Council launched its Regional Innovation Initiative (RII). RII is assisting regions to create economic development strategies that will attract talented residents and support the development of highly innovative firms.
BENCHMARKING - WHERE AMERICA STANDS: The Council's competitive agenda is rooted in empirical data, enriched by the insight and experience of the Council's members. The Council's flagship product, the "Competitiveness Index," tracks global and national economic performance and competitiveness drivers. In 2008, the Council is launching the Complete 2.0 campaign, featuring targeted assessments at the cutting edge of competitiveness and to showcase strategic opportunities for the United States to capture high value activities and investments in a world or more nearly equal competitors. (SOURCE: www,compete.org)
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