National Competitiveness
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As nations engage in a race for global advantage in innovation, ITIF champions a new policy paradigm that ensures businesses and national economies can compete successfully by spurring public and private investment in foundational areas such as research, skills, and 21st century infrastructure. Our work on competitiveness policy includes analysis of the many factors and policies driving national competitiveness, including improving innovation ecosystems and the technical capacity of high-value-added industries.
Vice President, Global Innovation Policy, and Director, Center for Life Sciences Innovation
Information Technology and Innovation Foundation
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Head of Policy, Centre for Canadian Innovation and Competitiveness
Information Technology and Innovation Foundation
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China Is Rapidly Becoming a Leading Innovator in Advanced Industries
There may be no more important question for the West’s competitive position in advanced industries than whether China is becoming a rival innovator. While the evidence suggests it hasn’t yet taken the overall lead, it has pulled ahead in certain areas, and in many others Chinese firms will likely equal or surpass Western firms within a decade or so.
A Techno-Economic Agenda for the Next Administration
The next administration needs to place innovation, productivity, and competitiveness at the core of its economic policy. To that end, this report offers a comprehensive techno-economic agenda with 82 actionable policy recommendations.
The Hamilton Index, 2023: China Is Running Away With Strategic Industries
China now dominates the strategically important industries in ITIF’s Hamilton Index, producing more than any other nation in absolute terms and more than all but a few others in relative terms. Its gains are coming at the expense of the United States and other G7 and OECD economies, and time is running short for policymakers to mount an industrial comeback.
More Publications and Events
September 23, 2025|Events
2025 Global Trade and Innovation Policy Alliance Summit
The 2025 “South Meets North” Global Trade and Innovation Policy Alliance (GTIPA) Annual Summit will bring together leading local and international experts in Buenos Aires to exchange effective strategies in innovation-related policies.
July 8, 2025|Blogs
US Antitrust as an Anti-Competitiveness Weapon
Only in the United States is gutting a world-leading firm seen as a policy win. No other government would be insane enough to attack its own national champions the way American antitrust enforcers do.
July 7, 2025|Blogs
Canada Doesn’t Have an Innovation System: It Has 134 Programs
Canada needs a new federal institution that makes its innovation system more than the sum of its parts: a Canadian Innovation and Industrial Transformation Agency. This institution wouldn’t replace programs. It would govern them coherently, strategically, and at speed.
June 30, 2025|Reports & Briefings
Congress Should Fully Fund NSF’s TIP Directorate to Make America More Competitive Versus China
Congress has authorized $20 billion over five years to fund the National Science Foundation’s Technology Innovation Partnership, but lawmakers have appropriated just $410 million. To win the techno-economic war with China, America needs the TIP directorate to be fully funded.
June 30, 2025|Blogs
If They Told You Wolverines Would Make Good House Pets, Prime Minister, Would You Believe Them?
If the Starmer government thinks for one minute that the PRC will allow the UK to expand exports of anything with any real strategic importance, it is gravely mistaken. It’s time for competitive realism.
June 26, 2025|Blogs
Rostow’s The Stages of Growth Needs a Sixth Stage
Rostow’s model suggests that stage five is the ultimate destination. A better model sees no fixed stages and certainly no permanent peak, only a relentless push to go higher and higher.
June 23, 2025|Blogs
Fact of the Week: China and the EU Invest More in Research at Government Institutions and Universities Than the US
In 2023, the United States invested about $175 billion in research conducted at government institutions and universities. That same year, the EU invested about $180 billion, and China about $200 billion.
June 23, 2025|Blogs
US Science Policy at a Crossroads
America needs a robust federal science and engineering enterprise now more than ever. But the scientific community’s rigid defense of the Vannevar Bush model and its full-throated embrace of ideological DEI has left it politically exposed.
June 17, 2025|Blogs
Fixing America’s Quality Crisis Starts With Reforming the Baldrige Award
Tariffs and tax breaks won’t fix America’s quality crisis. But perhaps an overhaul of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award will.
June 17, 2025|Blogs
MEP Program Critical for Small Manufacturers Underpinning America’s Manufacturing Revival
Small manufacturers power U.S. industry, but many are struggling to compete. Cutting the MEP program would weaken the backbone of America's manufacturing economy.
