Council on Competitiveness, Department of Energy Kick off AEMC Partnership with Inaugural Leadership Dialogue

Lisa Hanna
Vice President, Communications
Council on Competitiveness
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(Washington, D.C) – The Council on Competitiveness and the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) today held an inaugural leadership dialogue in Washington, D.C., the first in a series of dialogues as part of the recently announced American Energy and Manufacturing Competitiveness Partnership (AEMC); a three-year effort to bring together national leaders to address a rapidly shifting national and global energy landscape.

Today’s discussion brought together leaders from industry, academia, labor, the national laboratories, government and the non-profit community. Leading the discussion was EERE Assistant Secretary, David Danielson and Council President & CEO, Deborah L. Wince-Smith.

“The energy and manufacturing challenges of today cannot be solved by government alone. Winning the clean energy race requires collaborative solutions from the best and brightest leaders of both the public and private sector," said Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy David Danielson. "The AEMC Partnership and our manufacturing initiative focus on creating and strengthening public-private partnerships, generating innovative ideas, and seizing new opportunities for American businesses to compete and lead in the global clean energy economy."

As part of the AEMC Partnership, the Council today released The Power of Partnerships–an extensive literature review and “mapping” of past and current research efforts regarding links between energy efficiency, renewable energy and manufacturing competitiveness; barriers to energy and manufacturing competitiveness; and models for public-private partnerships (PPPs) for fostering competitive industries in the U.S.

The supplemental document, A Summary of Public-Private Partnerships, offers deeper insights into the linkages between PPPs, barriers and policy through a comprehensive infographic. All together, the Council undertook an extensive, side-by-side comparison and analysis of 19 PPPs and 180 policy recommendations around the world.

“In today’s global marketplace, the AEMC Partnership will be a critical platform off of which the private and public sectors can co-create and compete for competitive advantage.” said Deborah L. Wince-Smith, President & CEO, Council on Competitiveness. “I’m confident in the work we’re doing, as it will also put our country on a track to dramatically improve its economy, the prospects for U.S. job growth, the environment, national security, and our standard of living.”

The AEMC Partnership was announced last month at Oakridge National Laboratory (ORNL) and is part of EERE's Clean Energy Manufacturing Initiative (CEMI), which focuses on increasing U.S. competitiveness in the production of clean energy products and strengthening U.S. manufacturing competitiveness across the board by increasing energy productivity.

The focus of the Council-EERE AEMC Partnership is two-fold: (1) to increase U.S. competitiveness in the production of clean energy products; and (2) to increase U.S. manufacturing competitiveness across the board by increasing energy productivity.

Over the coming year, the Council and EERE will work together across the country in the AEMC Partnership to define key barriers, challenges and problems in the manufacturing of clean energy products and energy efficient products – and then generate potential models for scalable, public-private partnerships, to increase the competitive manufacturing of clean energy and energy efficient products in the United States.

The AEMC Partnership will convene three additional regional dialogues in 2013, culminating in a major, annual, Washington DC-based, cornerstone energy and manufacturing summit in December.

    

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ABOUT THE COUNCIL ON COMPETITIVENESS

The Council on Competitiveness is the only group of corporate CEOs, university presidents and labor leaders committed to the future prosperity of all Americans and enhanced U.S. competitiveness in the global economy through the creation of high-value economic activity in the United States. The Council is a non-partisan and non-governmental organization.