The Council on Competitiveness Initiative on US Manufacturing

Innovation has taken center stage in government and industry efforts worldwide to compete and prosper. Public and private sector leaders understand increasingly that cost and quality alone do not determine economic success. The lynchpin is innovation - the ability to develop new ideas and deploy them in the real world where they create economic and societal value.

Innovation creates high-margin business, sustains high-wage jobs and drives productivity, and it is the key to solving many of the most pressing challenges and addressing many of the greatest opportunities. The reality, however, is that this country is still at the beginning of understanding the dynamics of modern innovation and how the public and private sectors can enable and manage innovation most effectively.