National Governors
Association
The National Governors Association’s Innovation
America initiative focused on strengthening our
nation’s competitive position in the global economy
by improving our capacity to innovate. The goal
was to give governors the tools they need to improve
math and science education, better align postsecondary
education systems with state economies, and develop
regional innovation strategies. To guide the Innovation
America initiative,we assembled a bipartisan task
force of governors, corporate CEOs, and university
presidents.Working with the NGA Center for Best
Practices, this task force provided valuable advice
on innovation strategies in general and assisted
in the development of the initiative’s reports
and forums.Through a variety of events and publications,
we collected and shared best practice information
to ensure that every state—and the nation—is equipped
to excel in the global economy.
A
Compact for Postsecondary Education
Americans
Talk Innovation (Analysis for Governors)
Americans
Talk Innovation (Presentation to NGA)
Americans
Talk Innovation (Public Opinion Survey)
Building
a STEM Agenda
Call
to Action
Cluster-Based
Strategies for Growing State Economies
Innovation
America (Final Report)
Investing
in Innovation
The
2007 New State Economy Index
Other Reports
Opportunity Equation Papers prepared for the Carnegie-IAS Commission on Mathematics and Science Education
Into
The Eye of the Storm
Several high-level committees have concluded that
current domestic and global trends are threatening
America’s global science and engineering (S&E)
preeminence. Of the challenges discussed, few
are thought to be as serious as the purported
decline in the supply of high quality students
from the beginning to the end of the S&E pipeline—a
decline brought about by declining emphasis on
math and science education, coupled with a supposed
declining interest among domestic students in
S&E careers. However, our review of the data
fails to find support for those presumptions.
Rather, the available data indicate increases
in the absolute numbers of secondary school graduates
and increases in their math and science performance
levels.
The
Competitiveness Equation (Engineers)
Scientists and engineers today make up only 4%
of US employment; even doubling their number would
in itself have a modest overall impact on the
economy. Rather, the point is that scientists
and engineers contribute disproportionately to
the creation of jobs for the other 96% of the
nation’s workforce by generating knowledge, by
innovating, and by establishing new companies
based on that knowledge and innovation.
The
Competitiveness Equation (Innovation Ecosystem)
In our hypothetical board room, with the need
to decide where to locate a new
facility, the focus thus far has been on labor
costs, the availability and quality of
human capital, and the creation of knowledge.
But other ingredients will affect
where new plants, offices, and laboratories—and
the jobs they provide—are to be.
This so-called innovation ecosystem, a combination
of factors defining the “innovation-
friendliness” of a country, plays a large role
as managers and boards decide where to
locate new facilities.
The
Competitiveness Equation (Quality of Workforce)
A workforce that costs more than its competitors
can, within reason, overcome this disadvantage
through productivity, although the increase in
productivity in some instances can itself destroy
jobs. Indeed, major steps have been taken in improving
efficiency in the United States, with, for example,
real factory output per worker having increased
from $52,000 to $108,000 since 1990 alone. That
is important, but it falls far short of the wage
gap that must somehow be offset—particularly as
others have improved their productivity, too.
Grade
Change: Students abroad, it turns out, are not
outperforming Americans
There is, in any event, scant evidence that test
scores have much to do with national economic
performance. None of this is to say that American
schools don't have many flaws. But their worst
failure is how many of America's talented young
people they are leaving behind. Our good schools
are very good, but our bad schools are truly awful.
Report
of the Interagency Aerospace Revitalization Task
Force
In recognition of the unique and ongoing workforce
challenges facing the aerospace industry, Congressman
Vernon J. Ehlers (R-Michigan, 3rd District) introduced
legislation to formally establish an Interagency
Aerospace Revitalization Task Force to develop
a strategy to address the unique and ongoing workforce
challenges currently facing the aerospace industry.
Endorsed by a bipartisan group of 30 House of
Representatives co-sponsors, this bill was passed
by Congress and signed into law by President
George W. Bush on December 20, 2006.
Preparation
by Eighth Grade Critical to College/Career Readiness
Students who aren't on track for college and career
readiness by eighth grade are unlikely to attain
that level of readiness by high school graduation,
according to "The Forgotten Middle,"
a new research report by ACT, Inc.
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