Transcripts For CSPAN3 National Competitiveness Forum Mornin

CSPAN3 National Competitiveness Forum Morning Panel Remarks By Energy Secretary... July 13, 2024

Are again. Once again finding yourselves in a transformational change. To hear stories about these changes as they are foundational with innovation and competitiveness the commission cochaired is a multiyear effort for americans innovation potential to have a new path and the 21st century. And as this slide shows a little less than a year ago of poor leadership we begin to build this effort and by august pulled together a powerful and diverse set of commissioners from across the country from industry and academia and the labor union and today is the 2020 roadmap of activities that we hope will change the future and trajectory of American Innovation and to make this happen with hundreds of advisors and innovation practitioners with this new innovation agenda and movement for americana. This morning our Commission Leadership will share their Top Priorities of the strategy and i would like to look at a future centered around a more sustainable approach of production consumption and the benefits of accrued greater tension we have to be concerned of the nation stagnation of investment of r d talk about the risk of stagnation what might be the opportunity to reignite. Thank you. We touched on that with the comments but i will bring it up again. Any country the United States has led the world to Economic Growth for its citizens based on innovation. There is no innovation without invention and innovation starts as a process or product or ingredient invented that requires r d investment it is based on significant investment and it is up to other sectors to take those inventions and to put them into application in society. So much of the benefit we have achieved if we go back the us was the primary driver in the world across our ecosystem and of course the private sector. Today china accounts for our indy investment now we here at about 20 percent more than china does. When that happens we no longer have the fuel to drive future innovation and ultimately job creation and the opportunity. You talk about the china challenge and it is on the fundamental side. But china while investing less overall is much more the application of the development and that triggers to rethink our model a modernization model to be unbelievably creative and thinking about our future. Can you talk about what you think is required and what might that model look in the future and how that helps us think through a new way of innovation. Thats a small question. [laughter] so back up a little bit to report 335 Million People the most diverse country in the world, unbelievable complexity everything you can possibly imagine we are still living off the successes of the past in terms of our designs of the past to wake up with this democracy that is evolving socially and culturally we wake up today with those contenders that is good news for humanity Going Forward how we modernize our institutions of Higher Education in the entire educational system how we change the notion it is a sector as opposed to a responsibility to embrace the notion Human Capital is the objective with capital enhancement and how we find ways to modernize and use technology and create opportunities for people to learn across the entirety of their life seamlessly and move in and out of formal education and get recognition and credit for informal experience. How do we empower 60 and 70 yearolds and 80 yearolds in the future who are at their peak wisdom moment to engage all that together so we have an archaic fragmented isolated sector driven model we dont have connections to have the means and the capability to do all these things just look at the fact the systems are antiquated and underperforming and except that its a weird thing to me to watch people go when its like sending in line after line of people to say we need to make k12 better. Know you me to make it differen different. You need to rethink from the very core rethink some universities and colleges and rethink how they work we have been doing that was some progress at my institution not at warp eight may be better than neutral so the point being relative to modernization the country has matured socially and culturally and economically and competitively and now is the moment with that burst of modernization across all aspect aspects. As we think about modernizing america what is your vision for regulatory or other reforms to be necessary to support innovative activity . Pgh. The key point is embedded of the economy we talk about comparing ourselves to china and innovation the basic principle is we want to grow but thats not the right comparison thats how much to be have to spend to maintain that position . The second construct is there is great final demand when a much different set of talent that was probably a trillion and a half now 14 which people think it of it one way about the structure has changed dramatically with final demand and consumption so the european dominance on dominance has changed so we use to lead the standards so how do you leave that when its about data or privacy or if theres two systems developing . How can we interface for all of us in the business change to interface in a different environment and to talk about driving that earlier this year with Artificial Intelligence and the defense and over structure and then to keep our eye on revitalizing patent reform not only with trade negotiations to get the payback. That the world has benefited so we have to think of patent reform completely different now with all the different Business Systems and then you have tax. So with these deficits at some point where can they collect money cracks and then to raise the rates where the world is much more interesting to companies for final demand. Thats one issue. So we cant lose incentives for alternative new Energy Sources as major drivers of activity when they need money they can go. Remember charitable deduction if you start to take away those endowment to take away those resources. Is not just tax rate but the incentives and how to preserve them. So trade negotiations and the tax policy those are the legislative areas. Follow up on one. With those issues that was just raised but another that comes up is the United States going to compete globally can we build that infrastructure of the future of where we are today . Pgh. But inherently we have the best Capital Market so the question isnt that but to make sure we hold onto that but that is emerging so to be careful the amount of private equity around the world because the rules are clear but we have to step back there is an article that said the percent of counties have 30 percent of the gdp so how think of that Capital Formation and how that is distributed the history of Human Capital how to make sure it goes across the board not just the cost that how the capital we cannot have Capital Formation deserts all private equity and funding in seven major counties and not anywhere else because that will be problematic the money is there i would never worry about that we have to watch that incentive but are we really paying attention to how we drive that distributed and also Human Capital if that continues thats different than the past so are we investing in the Human Capital . Take on the Human Capital. Were really interested how you think about the future what ideas are you generating how we train and skill and equip for the future . It is much different than they are today. We are working on updating the Construction Branch the way we train in the type of work. It is much different i visited a Training Center a couple weeks ago and they are actually starting to do virtual training. Starting to do virtual training. Engaged with workforce is doing very Different Things probably very different than they were two to three years ago so any other thoughts on what this looked like and how our commission might really think about leveraging in the United States . We trademarked that universal learning and we did that in opposition to the context of universal income and just taking out on a political basis but the notion that somehow we are going to give up on the ability of people able to perform a for the high compensation levels are increasing compensation levels so we are going to tap those making more resources and those that are no longer able to perform in the economy. We might as well give up if we move in directions of the notion that we have is how do we create an opportunity across all organizations, across a persons entire life to be engaged in the opportunity for universal learning in all stages of life, all aspects . That will require them to rethink themselves and require the corporations to rethink themselves, government, schools, university, everybody. And as important as Natural Capital is raising its status as what we need to do, that will require office to rethink everything. That dialogue fits all the research being done on aging and everything was a lot of work. People are never going to stop working so there is also and ine delectable societal demand to keep working in people are living into their 80s and 90s. They dont want to stop the 60 coming and talking about matching the education process i think that is something that we need to be thinking about is how to reinvent the career. At the second thing the way we can judge success is not necessarily the median incomes than all the stufand all the stt its really we should have the best starting jobs. They should be the best jobs in the world int and standard of lg of the world. Then they should be growing and that might be different than the Jobs Available in the company 20 years ago but as we are starting the wage for our employees the next quarter 40,000 a year for everybody but the productivity they have to have takes innovation in the process, so the goal was not the people that end up on top because that is going to kind of take care of the goal was everybodys standard of living. Weve lost that in some way lets me build on the two points. We are not talking hypothetical or theoretical. What they give a quote of statististatistic that i think l crystallize this. For the first time in the history of humanity today there are more people in the age of 65 then under the age of five so its never happened before. If you are a 5yearold whether it is your child or grandchild and fast forward 15 years from now there is going to be a young work force having to take care of more people over the age of 75 and 8010 theyve ever had to do and more people to take care of them people that are working if they dont take care of anything so for the leadership of this country and across the world, we have to ask ourselves to be sit and twiddle our thumb or look at the statistic and say what are we leaving behind him who is going to take care of us and we have to change it for ourselves because we are putting way too much burden on a young generation of fiveyearolds who will become 20yearolds taking care of a lot of 75 and 80yearolds so what are our options . We can watch the Economic Impact or come up with a very different construct for education because just because you turn 60 doesnt mean its mandatory retirement there are still professions are 60 to 65 is mandatory retirement. It doesnt make sense. I will give you an example. Currently every air Traffic Controller in the country is on mandatory overtime. We know theres a crisis in pilots. Air traffic mechanics. I can go on and on. There are a lot of opportunities to retrace and redevelop. Smart people can get redeployed and what is it going to take its going to take the leadership represented by the sector this table and in this room to actually say what is the new construct for employers, educators and policymakers. Anybody with a young child ask yourself what the future would look like. Just to buil build on what ws discussed already i think the way that the approach learning has to be evolved dramatically the idea that you could go to school and learn something and build out a complete career is no longer true you have to constantly learn and be taught to learn and continuously. This is why its also important to also educate whether it is and the Technical Schools or universities and much more research intensive. Research in and of itself is driving innovation. So, youre actually learning in an environment where they focus on the future, so i think its important to make sure that not only to this university but also working in the interface of the universities and National Laboratories and industry work towards creating a curriculum that not only teaches you how to learn continuously but also so you were trained for the jobs of the future. We have done a lot of work in this space and we have a major report that can encapsulate the early 20 years of effort. Fundamentals for our efforts to. In shoring the next generation has what we call the traditional education of the liberal arts social scienceand social sciencd humanities because so many of the issues do take that type of higher value thinking and also the creativity and imagination so that is something as well that we need to make sure starting pre k. And all the way up that we value of the liberal arts as well as ensuring that we have more americans than half the quantifiable skills that infuse every component of work as well. I want to pick it just a little but although that is connected you lead one of the nations preeminent National Laboratories the relay crown jewel of the innovation infrastructure in the country. But as mentioned in august in a meeting where we developed the launch, what we wanted them in the commission is not just focus on the naturalization system, but on the building of the assets around the country and optimizing for many different types of innovation systems, so i wonder can you talk a little bit about your thinking as to how you are trying to turbo charge your own and bloodless and we might potentially take back to the nation. Thank you for the question. But we start by giving you a hand anecdote. It required a major economy like the United States. There are about 2 billion such units so there is a democratization and innovation and thof innovationand the ideae globally just based on the intense innovation from the two dozen counties in the United States went along the coast i think isnt sustainable. There are a number of reports. You need more Innovation Centers across middle america. Cities that have the ability and the potential to step up and be part of the solution. And as was mentioned i need the laboratory but i am one of 17 such National Laboratories. For my own understanding, i tried to overlay the National Labs on those that had most of the agreements to be part of the solution and the reality is that as the intersection of National Laboratories, universities that already had much of the ecosystem necessary. Not just Oak Ridge National laboratory but the department of energy by about 4. 5 billion the university of tennessee is about 2 billion in the Tennessee Valley authority that is located in oak ridge is about 10 million utility. There has to be a way to be part of the solution and i think it is a really important attributes that one needs to pursue. I know you also want to comment on this because you raised the point in august about the innovation system, but perhaps talk a little bit about the transformation you are seeing in the southwest that you are leaving and i think to thomass point how do we begin to turbo charge of the regions across the country to contribute to the innovation story . Assist you retire at 65 but you are only educated building up to go to college and then you are done with your education so one of the advantages and a place like arizona blessed 17 or 18 years as nobody believes in anything there. They are openminded to everything and that is a good thing they dont believe in government or this or that and so what that means then is you can step back and start assembling groups of people and institutions to rethink things. We brought in the private Sector Companies and embedded them into the university so now we are probably pound for pound ten times more efficient than we ever were before so the notion then in our institutions and sectors and places if we want to innovate youve got to go back to the design. There is no innovation that is a function of tweaking some things. Its about the design of the institutions, the design of the relationships between the institutions so one of the things we found in our neck of the words found i woods, the sos openness to questioning and looking at and reshaping the design from which we are getting dramatic enhancements of outco outcome. I see a lot of cities and it falls on the point these places have a series of things to jumpstart something. They get the infrastructure and everybody has powers that t to e point that there is to b somebon infrastructure around utility, we need to think about things that are innovative and scalable and also universally available in the systems and how you think about the place in that way that contain the talented and very narrow places and so i think that is the key but on the Business Community we push about even on our relationship but we do in the schools and things but then how does the interface to the principles to the Community College to the technical education, tell us where you need help and then how we scale and place are two things we have to think of it differently. The

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