Recommendation

Congress and the administration should establish a National Advanced Industry and Technology Agency to ensure the United States can compete effectively with China.

Details

With the rise of China, the U.S. economic and technology environment has fundamentally and inexorably changed. The most important step Congress and the administration can take to meet this challenge is to create a dedicated national advanced industry and technology agency. Economy-wide competitiveness policies, like enhancing the R&D tax credit, strengthening the country’s STEM workforce, and bolstering digital infrastructure, are all necessary, but they are not sufficient. Congress should establish a National Advanced Industry and Technology Agency with the same sized budget as the National Science Foundation to manage an array of policies and programs designed to ensure long-term U.S. advanced industry leadership. The new agency should have five divisions: 1) data and analysis; 2) advanced industries; 3) emerging technologies; 4) innovation systems, and 5) cross-agency and cross-government coordination.

Keep reading:

▪ Robert D. Atkinson, “Why the United States Needs a National Advanced Industry and Technology Agency” (ITIF, June 2021), https://itif.org/publications/2021/06/17/why-united-states-needs-national-advanced-industry-and-technology-agency/.