Hamilton Center on Industrial Strategy
ITIF’s Hamilton Center promotes a practical approach to competitiveness policy that enables U.S. technology leadership in global markets. The Hamiltonian agenda entails more than simply increasing economic inputs and factor conditions that are broadly conducive to innovation and growth. The goal must be to go further with policies that directly enable firms in America to lead in advanced technologies and industries that are strategically important for economic and national security.
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Featured Publications
How to Mitigate the Damage From China’s Unfair Trade Practices by Giving USITC Power to Make Them Less Profitable

Section 337 of the 1930 Tariff Act allows the U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC) to bar imports when domestic industries suffer harm due to unfair competition. Congress should expand the law to better address the unfair trade practices China uses to capture market share in advanced industries at America’s expense.
The Hamilton Index: Assessing National Performance in the Competition for Advanced Industries

Compared to major competitors, U.S. output in key advanced industries is weak and declining. Congress and the administration should launch an economic “moon shot” initiative committing to increase the concentration of these industries in the U.S. economy by at least 20 percentage points relative to the global average within a decade.
The Hamilton Index of Advanced-Industry Performance: Data Visualization Tool

Seven strategically important industries. Sixty-six countries. Twenty-four years’ worth of value-added output data. This interactive visualization tool benchmarks national performance both in nominal U.S. dollars and relative to national shares of global GDP, an industry-concentration ratio known as a location quotient (LQ).
Events
April 27, 2023|Register Now
Reviving America’s Hamiltonian Tradition to Win the Economic Competition With China
Please join ITIF for an all-day conference with leading experts and policymakers to explore why and how Washington can look to Hamiltonianism for guidance in how to win the techno-economic contest with China.
November 28, 2022
How Updating a Century-Old Trade Law Could Limit China’s Ability to Profit From Unfair Trade Practices
Watch ITIF's briefing event featuring Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) and an expert panel of current and former U.S. trade officials who discussed how to limit China’s ability to profit from its predatory trade practices.
September 15, 2022
A New Frontier: Leveraging U.S. High-Performance Computing Leadership in an Exascale Era
Watch ITIF's event at the Dirksen Senate Office Building (SD-562) as it released a new report exploring the promise of HPC in the exascale era, examining some of the latest cutting-edge applications of HPC, and articulating steps policymakers should take to keep the United States at the leading-edge of this highly globally competitive, yet truly foundational information technology.
January 11, 2022
What a National Strategic-Industry Policy Should Look Like
ITIF hosted a discussion of what a robust national strategic-industry policy should—and should not—entail.
March 22, 2021
Time for a New National Innovation System for Defense and Competitiveness
ITIF hosted a panel with a keynote speech by Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA), chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, followed by an expert discussion with leading defense and technology experts of the health of the current U.S. innovation and production system, including the defense industrial base, and what the new administration and Congress should do to strengthen it.
Staff

Vice President, Global Innovation Policy, and Director, Center for Life Sciences Innovation
Advisors

Ernest L. Arbuckle Professor of Business Administration, Harvard Business School
More From the Center
January 23, 2023|Reports & Briefings
Wake Up, America: China Is Overtaking the United States in Innovation Capacity
Based on key indicators of innovation and advanced-industry performance, China has surpassed the United States in total innovation output and is getting close on a proportional basis. To regain its leadership, the United States must respond more strategically and forcefully.
January 16, 2023|Op-Eds & Commentary
When Facts About China Change, Elites Should Change Their Views Too
China’s aspiration to become the new global hegemon calls into question the “Washington Consensus” that free markets and unfettered globalization maximize U.S. and global welfare. But for true believers, that is unacceptable. So, the idea China is a threat must be destroyed intellectually.
October 20, 2022|Op-Eds & Commentary
Did China “Destroy” Globalization?
China did not cause income inequality. And it is only partially responsible for low productivity and wage growth. But if it had lived up to its WTO obligations, the world’s faith in globalization would have suffered much less than it has.
October 20, 2022|Op-Eds & Commentary
Korea Needs More Robots To Be Globally Competitive
For many years Korea had the honor of leading the world in industrial robot adoption. But that lead is now in doubt, as other nations, especially China, but also Japan and the United States, saw much faster increases in robot adoption in 2021, according to the International Federation of Robotics.
September 12, 2022|Reports & Briefings
A New Frontier: Sustaining U.S. High-Performance Computing Leadership in an Exascale Era
Continued leadership in high-performance computing (HPC) as it enters the exascale era remains a key pillar of U.S. industrial competitiveness, economic power, and national security readiness. Policymakers need to sustain investments in HPC applications, infrastructure, and skills to keep America at the leading edge.
August 15, 2022|Op-Eds & Commentary
Turning Point for American Industrial Policy or One-Hit Wonder?
The CHIPS and Science Act provides critical support for semiconductor firms and boosts science funding significantly, especially for key technologies for U.S. competitiveness. But there are important questions about both the legislation and the overall direction of U.S. industrial policy.
August 8, 2022|Op-Eds & Commentary
How Canada Has Fallen Behind in the Global Race for Advanced Industries
When it comes to advanced industry competitiveness, Canada is unlikely anytime to be the Maple Leafs of the global economy. But with the right policies, it can at least move up the standings.