U.S. public policy can help America's innovative businesses and workers remain competitive in an increasingly-competitive global economy.  Jake Colvin of the National Foreign Trade Council and John Stubbs of the Council's Global Innovation Forum will outline recommendations gathered from some of the nation's leading innovators, educators and businesspeople, which they collected over the past year through a series of workshops around the country thanks to a grant from the General Electric Foundation.  Jake and John will discuss findings from the Forum's events in Research Triangle Park, Silicon Valley and Detroit, where common threads emerged from small business CEOs, university heads and policy experts about problems facing American companies, workers and entrepreneurs.  From accessing the best and brightest talents from around the world to encouraging more home-grown scientists and mathematicians to dealing with the lingering effects of a severe credit crunch, America's innovators highlighted a variety of shared concerns throughout the country and solutions for how federal and state policy can help America succeed in the 21st Century global economy.    

Guest Speakers:

• Jake Colvin:  Vice President for Global Trade Issues, National Foreign Trade Council
• John Stubbs:  Managing Partner of Romulus Global Issues Management                                     Executive Director, Global Innovation Forum, a project of the National Foreign Trade Council

About NFTC and GIF

The National Foreign Trade Council is a Washington, DC-based business association which promotes open markets and U.S. engagement in the world on behalf of our member companies, which include Boeing, Chrysler, Caterpillar, Ford Motor Company, General Electric, General Motors, JP Morgan Chase, and Wal-Mart.  The Global Innovation Forum is a project of NFTC's educational arm, the NFTC Foundation.  NFTC established the Global Innovation Forum to create a greater understanding of the innovation ecosystem and the policy foundations upon which this system is built to improve the lives of workers, families and communities around the world.  NFTC's Global Innovation Forum has hosted a series of innovation events around the country this year, which are made possible in part thanks to a grant by the General Electric Foundation.  In April, the Forum held a workshop in partnership with the Research Triangle Foundation and the Nicholas Institute of Duke University.  In June, GIF held an event with the Palo Alto Research Center (PARC), Tesla Motors and Stanford's School of Business.  In September, GIF hosted a roundtable discussion with U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk and senior officials from Google, Facebook and Microsoft at the Googleplex in Mountain View, California.