The Brookings Institute, in partnership with the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF), released three bold policy proposals intended to bolster the competitiveness of the U.S. manufacturing and advanced industries sector by improving innovation, workforce, and higher education connections.

Following a year-long policy academy intended to help states prepare new strategies for economic growth by fostering collaboration and shared experiences, eight states have agreed to bring a renewed focus to advanced manufacturing. State leaders concur that the manufacturing sector is too important to lose and is rapidly evolving. With change, however, comes a unique opportunity to capture new leadership roles and address global issues that threaten public health and safety.

Tom McDonnell, President and CEO of the Kauffman Foundation, on Tuesday presented the organization's outlook on the current level of entrepreneurial activity in the U.S.. He began with news that there was growing national consensus that entrepreneurs can help promote growth in the sluggish economy, but cited challenges in capital financing and regulations.

The Office of Budget and Management published a set of proposed reforms to streamline the federal grant process by consolidating the multiple federal regulations with duplicative requirements into a single, comprehensive uniform policy guide. The office hopes to augment efficiency and effectiveness, strengthen oversight and reduce fraud and waste, which is a growing concern.

In the wake of a potential overhaul to the state's economic development strategy, Gov. Lincoln Chafee received two reports analyzing the strengths and weaknesses of Rhode Island's existing industry clusters and identifying potential new opportunities. The reports provide guidance for consideration by the Sustainable Rhode Island Initiative, a multi-agency effort to develop an integrated approach for the state related to land use, transportation, housing and economic development.

The White House recently released Capturing Domestic Competitive Advantage in Advanced Manufacturing, a blueprint intended to serve as a national framework for the sustainable resurgence in advanced manufacturing in the United States. The report was written by the Advanced Manufacturing Partnership (AMP) steering committee, a national public-private partnership formed by the Obama administration in 2011 to help increase public and private investments in advanced manufacturing and create high-paying manufacturing jobs.

While taxes and regulations comprise the basic framework for state competitiveness, ample opportunity exists for other strategic interventions that can create a vibrant, entrepreneurial state economy, according to a pair of reports released this week by the National Governors Association (NGA). The first report examines six factors that drive state competitiveness and the kinds of policies states use to encourage economic growth. A second report lays out 12 recommendations for state leaders, with examples from successful initiatives around the country.

Governors and policymakers working toward economic development reform are in a unique position to propose critical changes that would not have been feasible in the past and gain broad support for transforming economic development agencies to better meet the needs of businesses, according to a new white paper from the National Governors Association (NGA). NGA has identified three major challenges states are facing and three foundational strategies to increase effectiveness of state economic development agencies.

U.S. economic policy will require a renewed focus on production and globally traded sectors in order to restore U.S. competitiveness, according to a new report from the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF). Furthering the argument laid out in the recently published book Innovation Economics: The Race for Global Advantage and in last year's report "The Case for a National Manufacturing Strategy", ITIF's Stephen J. Ezell and Robert D. Atkinson present 50 recommendations for federal reform to restore the U.S.' competitive edge.

"Productivity growth is below the average rate of growth that has historically been recorded 39 months after a business cycle started," according to Growing Concerns About Future U.S. Competitiveness — a policy brief by the Center for American Progress. In this report, researchers examined several short-term economic trends (e.g., business investments and innovation) that help to stimulate long-term competitiveness.

A larger number of states are positioned to capitalize on rising employment due to high-growth industries, according to a new report from Wells Fargo's Economic Group — Employment Dynamics and State Competitiveness. These states (i.e., Georgia, North Carolina, Arizona, Virginia and Texas) have been able to couple several high-growth industries with a skilled workforce to build their competitive advantage.

The Council on Competitiveness in partnership with Deloitte released Ignite 2.0: Voices of American University Presidents and National Lab Directors on Manufacturing Competiveness, the second installment of a three-part series on improving U.S. manufacturing competitiveness. According to the report, talent-driven innovation, education and advanced skills development coupled with research, science, technology and full life-cycle commercialization are the necessary drivers for a U.S. manufacturing resurgence.

President Barack Obama recently announced the creation of a national Advanced Manufacturing Partnership (AMP) to accelerate the development of manufacturing technologies at top engineering universities. The AMP initiative, which was developed based on recommendations from a report by the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST), would leverage existing programs and proposals to invest more than $500 million in university and private R&D. The partnership is being called an "umbrella" for federal innovation programs.

Europe needs increased and "smarter" investments in both public and private research and development (R&D) to address the European Union's (EU) "Innovation Emergency," according to the European Commission's 2011 Innovation Union Competitiveness Report. The commission contends it is necessary to accelerate investments into R&D to achieve the EU's target of 3 percent of GDP being spent on R&D. EU members currently invest approximately 2 percent of GDP on R&D spending.

In a Framework for K-12 Science Education: Practices, Crosscutting Concepts and Core Ideas, an 18-member committee comprised of experts in education and scientists proposes a foundation for new national K-12 science education standards. The report identifies core ideas in four areas that students should understand by the time they finish high school. The four areas include: