Roundtable on Technology, Innovation, and American Primacy

Roundtable

Roundtable on Technology, Innovation, and American Primacy

Staff:	James P. Dougherty, Adjunct Senior Fellow for Business and Foreign Policy

January 1, 2004 - Present

America’s ability to encourage innovative ideas has helped to establish it as the world’s economic and military leader. However, technological developments over the past thirty years have spawned an increasingly globalized world and created new challenges to American pre-eminence. This roundtable series investigates how the government’s response to these challenges will affect America’s global economic and political standing.

This roundtable series is made possible by the Bernard and Irene Schwartz Foundation.

Meetings
Full Description

Meetings

Roundtable on Technology, Innovation, and American Primacy: Managing the New Trajectory of Global Innovation

Roundtable Meeting

October 14, 2009

Speaker: Navi Radjou, Cambridge University

Presider: James P. Dougherty, Council on Foreign Relations

Presentation:

Navi Radjou: New Global Trajectory

Roundtable on Technology, Innovation, and American Primacy: Team Entrepreneur - The Najaf City Report

Roundtable Meeting

June 23, 2009

Speakers:	Sameeksha Desai, University of Missouri - Kansas City
	Jessica LeCroy, Bennett Jones, LLP
	Brigadier General Jeffory Smith, 10th Infantry Mountain Division (Light Infantry) and Fort Drum
Presider:	James P. Dougherty, Council on Foreign Relations

Roundtable on Technology, Innovation, and American Primacy: Immigration and American Competitiveness

Roundtable Meeting

May 18, 2009

Speakers:	Michael S. Teitelbaum, Alfred P. Sloan Foundation
	B. Lindsay Lowell, Georgetown University
	Mark C. Regets, National Science Foundation
	Vivek Wadhwa, Duke University
Presider:	James P. Dougherty, Council on Foreign Relations

Presentations:

Lowell: Globalization and Selectivity of the Best and Brightest Immigrants (PDF, 2.8MB)
Teitlebaum: Immigration and American Competitiveness (PDF, 694K)
Wadhwa: America's Loss is the World's Gain (PDF, 633K)

Roundtable on Technology, Innovation, and American Primacy: Outsourcing and American Competitiveness

Roundtable Meeting

April 23, 2009

Speakers:	Frances Karamouzis, Gartner, Inc.
	Jacob Kirkegaard, Peterson Institute for International Economics
Presider:	James P. Dougherty, Council on Foreign Relations

Presentations:

Kirkegaard: High Skilled Immigration (PDF, 305K)
Karamouzis: Global Sourcing (PDF, 1.32MB)

Roundtable on Technology, Innovation, and American Primacy: The Patent Crisis - An Update

Roundtable Meeting

April 7, 2009

Speakers:	Mark Blaxill, 3LP Advisors
	James Duffy, George Washington University
	David Kappos, IBM
	John A. Squires, Intellectual Property Practice, Chadbourne and Parke
Presider:	James P. Dougherty, Council on Foreign Relations

Presentations:

Blaxill: Patent Crisis? (PowerPoint, 886K)
Carranza: Patent Reform and Small Business Challenges (PDF, 153K)
Kappos: U.S. Patent Reform - Is it Within Reach? (PowerPoint, 187K)
Squires: Will Reform Reverse the "Patent Crisis?" (PDF, 85K)

Roundtable on Technology, Innovation, and American Primacy: OECD Innovation Strategy

Roundtable Meeting

March 6, 2009

Speaker:	Robert E. Litan, Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation
Presider:	James P. Dougherty, Council on Foreign Relations

Roundtable on Technology, Innovation, and American Primacy: The Venturesome Economy

Roundtable Meeting

October 29, 2008

Chair:	James P. Dougherty, Council on Foreign Relations
Presider:	Chrystia Freeland, Financial Times
Speaker:	Amar Bhidé, Columbia University

Amar Bhidé, Lawrence D. Glaubinger Professor of Business at Columbia University, presented on his recent book, The Venturesome Economy: How Innovation Sustains Prosperity in a More Connected World. Mr. Bhidé argues that the doomsayers-those who fear that America is losing its lead in technological innovation to countries such as India and China-are guilty of ‘techno-nationalism'. Potential remedies, such as subsidizing research, training new scientists, or trade protection, would likely do more harm than good. Instead, Mr. Bhidé notes that much of the value of innovation accrues to users rather than creators. The United States' venturesome consumption-the willingness of businesses and consumers to effectively use new products and technologies-is the most important part of innovation.

Presentation:

Amar Bhidé: The Venturesome Economy

Roundtable on Technology, Innovation, and American Primacy: India - The Emerging Innovation Giant

Roundtable Meeting

October 14, 2008

Speaker:	Navi Radjou, Forrester Research
Presider:	James P. Dougherty, Council on Foreign Relations

Navi Radjou, vice president at Forrester Research, presented on "India: The Emerging Innovation Giant." Radjou's presentation articulates the dynamics of Indian innovation by answering the crucial question: "What does it mean to innovate in the Indian socioeconomic context?" He identifies the essential industry players driving innovation across key economic sectors like manufacturing, financial services, pharma, high-tech, retail, and media, and explores best practices in areas like R&D, supply chain, and customer service. Radjou analyzes how Indian firms are cleverly using technology to fuel their innovations and examines how India's expanding domestic tech market will affect the global tech sector in the coming decade. Radjou also explores the macro-economic and geopolitical implications of India's emergence as an innovation giant by discussing how U.S. policymakers can forge innovation networks with India to anchor both countries' scientific and technical cooperation.

Presentation:

Navi Radjou: India - The Emerging Innovation Giant

Roundtable on Technology, Innovation, and American Primacy: New Proposals for Federal Actions to Improve American Competitiveness

Roundtable Meeting

June 17, 2008

Presider:	James P. Dougherty, Adjunct Senior Fellow for Business and Foreign Policy, Council on Foreign Relations
Speakers:	Karen G. Mills, Solera Capital, LLC
	Howard Wial, The Brookings Institution

Presentations:

Mills and Wial: Blueprint for American Posterity

Roundtable on Technology, Innovation, and American Primacy: Maintaining American Competitiveness-Policy Lessons

Roundtable Meeting

May 28, 2008

Presider:	James P. Dougherty, Adjunct Senior Fellow for Business and Foreign Policy, Council on Foreign Relations
Speakers:	Glenn Hubbard, Dean, Graduate School of Business, Columbia University
	Marshall Phelps
	Scott Stern, Associate Professor, Department of Management and Strategy, Kellogg School of Management
	Byron Wien, Advisory Director, Morgan Stanley

Roundtable on Technology, Innovation, and American Primacy: Innovation and the Financial Sector-The Challenge From London

Roundtable Meeting

May 21, 2008

Presider:	Michael J. Bingle, Managing Director, Silver Lake
Speakers:	Charles Roxburgh, Director, McKinsey & Company, Inc.
	Hal Scott, Harvard Law School

Charles Roxburgh: New York’s Future Competitiveness as a Global Financial Center

Roundtable on Technology, Innovation, and American Primacy: National Innovation Programs-The Challenge from China and India

Roundtable Meeting

May 14, 2008

Presider:	James P. Dougherty, Adjunct Senior Fellow for Business and Foreign Policy, Council on Foreign Relations
Speakers:	Adam Segal, Maurice R. Greenberg Senior Fellow for China Studies, Council on Foreign Relations
	Denis Simon, Provost and Vice President, The Levin Institute

Adam Segal: National Innovation Programs-The Challenge from India

Roundtable on Technology, Innovation, and American Primacy: The New Power Brokers in Global Capital Markets

Roundtable Meeting

December 4, 2007

Presider:	James P. Dougherty, Adjunct Senior Fellow for Business and Foreign Policy, Council on Foreign Relations
Speaker:	Diana Farrell, Director, McKinsey Global Institute

Roundtable on Technology, Innovation, and American Primacy: Immigration and American Competitiveness

Roundtable Meeting

November 13, 2007

Presider:	James P. Dougherty, Adjunct Senior Fellow for Business and Foreign Policy, Council on Foreign Relations
Speakers:	B. Lindsay Lowell, Director of Policy Studies, Institute for the Study of International Migration, Georgetown University
	Michael S. Teitelbaum, Vice President, Alfred P. Sloan Foundation
	Jeff M. Wheeler, Business Operations Manager for Corporate Real Estate, Intel Corporation

Presentations:

Roundtable on Technology, Innovation, and American Primacy: Immigration and the American Economy

Roundtable Meeting

October 16, 2007

Presider:	James P. Dougherty, Adjunct Senior Fellow for Business and Foreign Policy, Council on Foreign Relations
Speakers:	Richard Freeman, Director, Labor Studies Program, National Bureau of Economic Research
	Mark C. Regets, Senior Analyst, Division of Science Resources Statistics, National Science Foundation

Presentations:

Paper:

Mark C. Regets: Research Issues in the International Migration of Highly Skilled Workers

Roundtable on Technology, Innovation, and American Primacy: Reexamining U.S. Competitiveness in the Context of National Innovation Networks

Roundtable Meeting

May 8, 2007

Presider:	James P. Dougherty, Adjunct Senior Fellow for Business and Foreign Policy, The Council on Foreign Relations
Speaker:	Navi Radjou, Forrester Research

Presentations:

Navi Radjou, Forrester Research (Powerpoint 3,848KB)

Roundtable on Technology, Innovation, and American Primacy: Outsourcing - Three Years Later

Roundtable Meeting

May 2, 2007

Presider:	James P. Dougherty, Adjunct Senior Fellow for Business and Foreign Policy, The Council on Foreign Relations
Speakers:	Frances Karamouzis, Research Director, Gartner Research
	Catherine Mann, Professor, International Business School, Brandeis University
	Matthew J. Slaughter, Adjunct Senior Fellow for Business and Globalization, The Council on Foreign Relations

Presentations:

Frances Karamouzis, Research Director, Gartner Research (PDF 683KB)
Matthew J. Slaughter, Adjunct Senior Fellow for Business and Globalization, The Council on Foreign Relations (Powerpoint 147KB)
Catherine Mann, Professor, International Business School, Brandeis University (Powerpoint 839KB)

Roundtable on Technology, Innovation, and American Primacy: The Patent Crisis

Roundtable Meeting

March 20, 2007

Speakers:	James P. Dougherty, Adjunct Senior Fellow for Business and Foreign Policy, The Council on Foreign Relations
	Josh Lerner, Jacob H. Schiff Professor of Investment Banking, Harvard University
	David Kappos, Vice President and Assistant General Counsel, IBM Corporation
	John Squires, Vice President, Chief Patent Counsel, Associate General Counsel, The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc.

Presentations:

Kappos: Globalization & IP/Innovation (Powerpoint 551KB)
Lerner: The Patent Crisis (Powerpoint 832KB)
Squires: The Patent Crisis (Powerpoint 1,315KB)

Further Reading:

Lowell, B. Lindsay, “Projected Numbers of Foreign Computer and Engineering Workers under the Senate’s Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act (S.2611),” Institute for the Study of International Migration, 2006.
Lowell, B. Lindsay, “Immigration as a Labor Market Strategy in the United States,” pages 211 to 234 in Jan Niessen and Yongmi Schibel (eds.), Immigration as a Labour Market Strategy: European and North American Perspectives, Brussels: Migration Policy Group, 2005.

Roundtable on Technology, Innovation, and American Primacy: Globalization of Innovation

Roundtable Meeting

May 17, 2006

Speakers:	Jonathan Murray, Microsoft
	John A. Zysman, University of California at Berkeley
Presider:	James P. Dougherty

Presentations:

4:00 - 7:00 p.m.

Roundtable on Technology, Innovation, and American Primacy: More Globalization of Innovation

Roundtable Meeting

April 27, 2006

Speaker:	Amar Bhidé, Lawrence D. Glaubinger Professor of Business Management, Columbia School of Business
Presider:	James P. Dougherty, Adjunct Senior Fellow for Business and Foreign Policy, Council on Foreign Relations

Presentations

Bhide

4:00 - 7:00 p.m.

Roundtable on Technology, Innovation, and American Primacy: Innovation in China and India

Roundtable Meeting

March 7, 2006

Speaker:	Charles Robert Kaye, Co-President, Warburg Pincus
Presider:	James P. Dougherty, Adjunct Senior Fellow for Business and Foreign Policy, Council on Foreign Relations

Presentation

Kaye

4:00 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.

Roundtable on Technology, Innovation, and American Primacy: Globalization of Innovation

Roundtable Meeting

February 21, 2006

Speakers:	Andreas Beroutsos, Principal, McKinsey Global Institute
	David Braunschvig, Bernard L. Schwartz Senior Fellow for Business and Foreign Policy, Council on Foreign Relations
	Diana Farrell, McKinsey Global Institute
Presider:	James P. Dougherty, Adjunct Senior Fellow, Council on Foreign Relations

Presentations:

Farrell

4:00 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.

Roundtable on Technology, Innovation, and American Primacy: American Investment in Innovation Overseas

Roundtable Meeting

December 13, 2005

Speakers:	Richard N. Foster, Foster Health Partners, LLC
	Karen G. Mills, Solera Capital, LLC
	L. Brooks Entwistle, Goldman, Sachs & Co.
	James P. Dougherty, Gartner, Inc.

Presentations

The Global Science and Engineering Labor Force

Roundtable Meeting

October 31, 2005

Speakers:	Richard Freeman, National Bureau of Economic Research
	Mark C. Regets, National Science Foundation
	Jeff M. Wheeler, Intel Corporation
	James P. Dougherty, Adjunct Senior Fellow, Council on Foreign Relations

Presentations

Roundtable on Technology, Innovation, and American Primacy: Global Capital Markets and the American Economy

Roundtable Meeting

April 4, 2005

Presiders:	Kathleen O'Neil, Liberty Street Advisors, LLC
	James P. Dougherty
Speakers:	Glenn H. Hutchins, Silver Lake Partners
	Diana Farrell, McKinsey Global Institute
	Scott Stern, Kellogg School of Management
	Karen G. Mills, Solera Capital, LLC

Presentations

to top

Full Description

Roundtable on Technology, Innovation, and American Primacy

James Dougherty

The Roundtable on Technology, Innovation, and American Primacy grew from the intersection of my personal experiences and interests, the desire of Council members to learn more about the exploding phenomenon of outsourcing, and the Council’s unique qualifications to pull together experts in the field and sponsor a roundtable on this set of issues. The interest in the outsourcing topic was raised to a fever pitch just before the 2004 presidential election, and the roundtable was born shortly thereafter. The following discussion outlines the scope and organization of the roundtable, and the general themes that have emerged over the thirteen sessions that have been held thus far.

Scope of the Roundtable

From the roundtable’s initial focus on outsourcing and its implications for the U.S. economy and foreign policy, the series has broadened its scope to address other aspects and sources of American innovation as well as potential threats to America’s economic ‘primacy’. To understand the set of issues that comprise U.S. policy toward technology and innovation, the sessions have focused on a variety of topics including: immigration, global capital markets, intellectual property rights, emerging powers such as India and China, and education, especially in engineering and sciences.

Organization of the Roundtable

Our experience over the past several years has produced some roundtable ‘best practices’ that have helped enhance the quality and value of the roundtable. In general, meetings feature no fewer than three presenters for each session, rather than featuring just one. This provides the benefit of presenting a full range of views held by a group of leading scholars and practitioners. Speakers have fifteen minutes to present and five minutes for the question and answer session. Following the presentations, the floor is opened to the participants for an extended discussion and debate over the topic of the meeting.

Extensive research is done in advance of the meeting to help the presenter target a specific issue or piece of a broader topic and to ensure that speakers are not overly repetitive. Finally, we encourage speakers to distribute copies of their presentations to the meeting’s participants. Most of these presentations are available on the center’s website.

Conclusions

The following summary represents the conclusions that I have reached from officiating this roundtable series, and not necessarily those of the meeting’s participants.

Globalization will continue to benefit the United States. The underlying forces that have allowed manufacturing centers to move overseas are shifting the production of certain services to low-cost locations, with benefits to the United States and other economies. The abundance of high-skilled, low-cost labor in developing countries and a technological infrastructure spanning the globe have allowed work otherwise limited to service workers in the United States to be performed overseas. While certain American workers will be displaced as a result, the net gains to the United States make these losses worth their costs. Policy responses should not try to stop or reverse the overriding trends driving globalization, but should aid those workers most adversely affected by the gains from policies conducive to innovation and competitiveness.

Development overseas has created both business opportunities for American investors and new centers for innovation. Particularly in India and China, American investors have an opportunity to play an important role in developing new economies. These areas, in turn, will create new markets for U.S. goods, and increase competition with the United States for talented workers. Emerging economies such as China and India will also compete with traditional centers of American innovation, such as universities and corporate research and development centers, in producing new ideas and products. While it is difficult to determine the long-term impact of international competition for innovation on the American economy, there is reason to believe that the United States will also benefit from “upstream” innovation overseas.

Changing demographics in the United States and abroad. The United States and many European countries face an aging workforce that has contributed to under-funded pension systems. Health care costs, particularly in the United States, have continued to increase, raising the cost of labor. This additional expense for firms operating in the United States threatens to hamstring their ability to compete with international competitors that do not face such an increase in health care costs.

Fewer scientists being being produced at home while the number produced oversees is rising. While U.S. universities have declined in their output of young scientists and engineers, large developing countries, particularly China, have increased the annual number of graduates in these fields. While some view this as a troubling sign of America’s inability to innovate, others are skeptical as to whether creating more scientists at top U.S. schools is really what is needed. In an information-based economy, however, improving the quality of primary education in the United States is imperative.

The United States depends on foreign talent. The United States has always benefited from immigrant labor, with high-skilled workers being no exception. Policymakers in the United States should carefully consider its current visa policy to ensure that it is not cutting off this valuable stream of talent and to ensure that firms in the United States have access to the most qualified employees, regardless of their nationality. American universities also draw important strengths from foreign students—the U.S. government should ensure that post-9/11 visa restrictions do not deprive American universities of these students.

The Roundtable Agenda

For the 2006-2007 year, the roundtable will continue to examine its full range of topics in more depth, beginning with immigration. For more information, please contact James Dougherty, Senior Adjunct Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations.

to top

The Global Finance Regime

Explore the international finance regime with a new interactive from CFR's program on International Institutions and Global Governance.

New Council Special Reports

Enhancing U.S. Preventive Action

Identifying international threats and acting on them may be the most difficult job for U.S. policymakers. This report provides an actionable road map for managing international threats before they erupt into crises and makes a strong case that preventive action is not a luxury but a necessity.

The United States in the New Asia

For more than a decade, the United States has mostly watched from the sidelines as Asian countries organize themselves into an alphabet soup of new multilateral groups. In this report, the authors review the relationship between pan-Asian and trans-Pacific institutions and suggest policy guidelines for a new U.S. approach to this new Asian landscape.

Complete list of Council Special Reports

New Books

Start-Up Nation addresses the trillion-dollar question: How is it that Israel—a country of 7.1 million, only sixty years old, surrounded by enemies— produces more start-up companies than large, peaceful, and stable nations like Japan, China, India, Korea, Canada, and the UK? With the insights of geopolitical experts and investors, the authors examine this nation’s adversity-driven culture to answer this question and offer prescriptions for a global economy on the rebound.

In Forces of Fortune, Vali Nasr presents a paradigm-changing revelation that will transform the understanding of the Muslim world at large. He reveals that there is a vital but unseen rising force in the Islamic world—a new business-minded middle class—that is building a vibrant new Muslim world economy and that holds the key to winning the cold war against Iran and extremists.

In Cuba: What Everyone Needs to Know, Julia E. Sweig presents a remarkably accessible portrait of Cuba's unique place on the world stage over the past fifty years, including its internal politics, its often fraught relationship with the United States, and its shifting relationship with the global community.

Complete list of CFR Books

David Rockefeller Studies Program Contacts

For more information on the David Rockefeller Studies Program, contact:

James M. Lindsay
Senior Vice President, Director of Studies, and Maurice R. Greenberg Chair
+1.212.434.9626 (NY); +1.202.509.8405 (DC)
jlindsay@cfr.org

Janine Hill
Deputy Director of Studies Administration
+1.212.434.9753
jhill@cfr.org

Speakers:	Michael S. Teitelbaum, Alfred P. Sloan Foundation
	Ron Hira, Rochester Institute of Technology
	Mark R. Rosenzweig, Yale University
	B. Lindsay Lowell, Georgetown University
	James P. Dougherty, Council on Foreign Relations

Roundtable

Roundtable on Technology, Innovation, and American Primacy

The Global Finance Regime

New Council Special Reports

Enhancing U.S. Preventive Action

The United States in the New Asia

New Books

David Rockefeller Studies Program Contacts