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.
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 “South Meets North” Summit will bring together leading local and international experts in Buenos Aires to exchange effective strategies in innovation-related policies.
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.
June 12, 2025|Blogs
The Fantasy of “Uninationals” and the Reality of Why America Needs Multinationals
In reality, we live in a global economy that requires large, integrated firms to advance national success. That means embracing multinationals, not demonizing them.
June 12, 2025|Op-Eds & Contributed Articles
Trump Will Lose the Trade War
Multifront conflicts have never ended well for the countries that provoked them.
June 10, 2025|Blogs
Federal Lights on for Lights-Out Factories
It’s time to think big and bold. The United States should pursue a super-automation moonshot by establishing 50 to 100 demonstration factories that deploy state-of-the-art automation technologies.