State of the U.S. Economy: Ensuring America’s Innovators Can Thrive

America today is the global epicenter of innovation.

The U.S. has 6 million workers employed in technology and the highest concentration of knowledge and technology intensive industries in the world, representing 40 percent of our GDP.

For our nation’s economy to continue to grow and remain globally competitive, we have to build on that momentum.

In President Obama’s words, "to win the future the United States must out-innovate, out-educate and out-build the rest of the world."

At the Department of Commerce, we are working to set the conditions for our innovators, entrepreneurs, inventors, researchers, mentors and investors to succeed. We like to think of ourselves as the Administration’s “innovation agency.”

1. We are protecting ideas through our Patent and Trademark Office. To be closer to our customers, we have four new satellite patent offices in Dallas, Detroit, Denver and Silicon Valley. We are streamlining the patent process and reducing patent backlogs so that new products and designs get into the marketplace faster. In addition, we are focused on delivering patent reform that balances the protection of ideas with curbing the abuses in the IP system, such as patent trolling. This reform will allow American companies to remain focused on innovation, not expensive litigation.

2. We are making smart investments in digital infrastructure. We have deployed 110,000 miles of broadband in the last four years through our National Telecommunications and Information Administration. We also make spectrum available for businesses and advocate keeping the Internet free and open on a global scale.

3. We advance technology development through the best science, the right industry standards, and by supporting private sector R&D through our National Institute of Standards and Technology.

4. We produce and share important data from our Economics and Statistics Administration, the Census Bureau, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and we are committed to freeing even more. Why is this data important? Here is one example: Weather and climate-sensitive industries in the U.S. account for roughly one-third of GDP. Unlocking more weather and climate data will stimulate the creation of new companies like the Weather Channel, boost economic growth, and spur employment.

5. We support entrepreneurship and startups through programs in our Minority Business Development Agency and our Economic Development Administration.

6. For the first time ever, the Commerce Department is working with the Departments of Labor and Education to help train Americans with the skills employers need, match our workers to good jobs that need to be filled right now, and ensure that businesses have access to the most skilled and talented workforce to produce the goods and services of the future.

But we must not stop there, Our job at the Commerce Department also involves advocating for policies to grow our economy.

As such, we must invest more in research and development. For example, the President has called for a national network of manufacturing innovation institutes where companies – large and small — in partnership with universities can partner in “pre-competitive research.”

Another way to grow our economy is by increasing trade and investment. Today, 95 percent of customers are outside our borders and export-related jobs pay 18 percent more on average. That is why we must move forward with potential new trade agreements with both Asia-Pacific and Europe – involving two-thirds of global GDP.

We must also pass immigration reform, which is both a moral obligation and an economic opportunity for our country. Immigration reform will grow our economy by an estimated $1.4 trillion dollars over the next two decades and reduce the deficit. Reform will also attract and keep the best minds in America by providing visas to foreign entrepreneurs looking to start businesses here… and green cards to those who obtain a masters or Ph.D. in STEM fields.

The bottom line is that we must use all of the tools in our economic toolkit to help our economy grow — that also includes building first-class infrastructure and enacting smart business tax reform. And while we have more work to do to lift incomes, expand opportunity and help businesses with the tools they need to grow and hire, I am optimistic about America’s future. The ingenuity, grit, and resilience of our innovators, our workers, and our businesses has resulted in 2.4 million new jobs created last year. The strength of our people and their ideas will continue to move our economy forward.