Deputy Secretary of Commerce Don Graves visited Georgetown University, his law school alma mater, to discuss U.S. competitiveness to stress the impact on equity and resilience.
He attended the Georgetown Business School Forum on Nov. 29, the DOC announced at the time.
“For the first time in decades, we have a generational opportunity to lay claim to the competitive industries of the future, along with the good-paying jobs and economic security that will come with them,” Graves said, according to the transcript. He thanked the hosts and attendees for taking part in "an important conversation on U.S. competitiveness and impact – in particular, impact on equity and resilience."
" This conference could not be timelier," Graves said at the event.
He recounted a trip to the Albany Nanotech Complex at the SUNY Polytechnic Institute in Albany New York, earlier this year, the DOC reported. The advanced R&D facility led by NY CREATES serves as a resource for public-private and academic partnerships that Graves said "specializes in commercialization projects, enabling access to semiconductor design and prototyping for startups, smaller businesses, and universities, as well as helping to attract investment for entrepreneurs."
Graves discussed SUNY's, Career Alignment Platform Initiative, which is partially funded by the DOC. The initiative provides training and support to students and workers through the Nanotech Complex, and creates university partnerships with Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and other research universities to promote jobs in the chip industry.
"This ecosystem is laying the groundwork that will help to create hundreds of new chips companies and build a world class semiconductor workforce right here in the U.S.," Graves said according to the transcript.
Private industry has taken notice of the Albany Nanotech Complex, he said. Micron Technology will develop a semiconductor manufacturing complex, or "chips cluster," in Syracuse, Graves said.
"Now, being a Georgetown grad, I’m not normally one to tout Syracuse," Graves said. "But the ecosystem that Syracuse is building is impressive – and one of many examples we are seeing around the country."
Graves also addressed the DOC's role in creating economic policy to promote U.S. competitiveness; investments in manufacturing, innovation, workforce and communities; and expanding the U.S.'s international engagement, among other topics.
At the end of his remarks, Graves invited the students, "the future leaders of American industry," to think about how industrial strategy will present new opportunities for U.S. businesses, workers and innovation.
"How should business leaders think about national competitiveness and economic security as part of corporate social responsibility?" Graves said. "How can business work effectively with government to create the industries of the future, while protecting our national and economy security?"
"Where you come out on these questions and what you do about them will profoundly shape our economic future," Graves said. "We’re counting on you."
