Council Member Jeff Immelt Hosts Major National Forum on Competitiveness

Council member Chairman and General Electric CEO Jeff Immelt kicked off an ambitious four-day conference today, covering a wide range of issues critical to the nation's competitiveness. "Competition requires confidence," Immelt stated simply at the "American Competitiveness: What Works" event. Surveying the business, political and thought leaders assembled, he added: "I'm more confident today than any other time I can remember."
 
Immelt pointed to the essential role of small, medium, and large firms driving innovation, and the inextricable links between imagination and work. Creativity is a key ingredient in a productive, growth economy, he said.
 
Addressing the audience at the GE event, Council President and CEO Deborah L. Wince-Smith stressed that from "start up to scaling up, we must have the regulatory environment to grow the next generation of companies generating jobs." Despite American companies moving offshore and the rise of other manufacturing powerhouses, the United States is still the most sough-after venue for investors, worldwide. "The U.S. remains the top recipient of foreign direct investment in the world, securing more than double the amount invested in China in 2010 alone. To maintain this crucial lead, we enact fiscal reform, transform tax laws, and reduce regulatory and other structural costs."
 
Today's sessions focus on ways to strengthening American manufacturing, and growing middle market investment. The Council's recently-released report Make: An American Manufacturing Movement, details ways in which we can galvanize the stakeholders in a thriving economy through a four-pillared approach: talent, technology, investment, and infrastructure.
 
Wince-Smith joined Seth Goldman, Founder & TeaEO (CEO) of Honest Tea and Bill Dunkelberg, Chief Economist for the National Federation of Independent Business on a panel moderated by Mary Jordan, Editor for the Washington Post Live entitled "The Winning Formula for Entrepreneurship and American Competitiveness." GE enlisted partner organizations including Washington Post Live, the Center for American Progress, National Association of Manufacturers, Bipartisan Policy Center, U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Center for Strategic and International Studies, American Action Network, Ohio State Fisher College of Business, and The Peterson Institute to host the panel discussions. The event is strategically timed as the White House and the nation's lawmakers debate budget priorities and funding for the coming fiscal year.
 
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