The 2006 HPC Users Conference report, Collaborate. Moving Beyond Islands of Innovation, focuses on the need for a national infrastructure to advance the use of HPC among U.S. businesses. The conference addressed the necessity of industry partnerships with university HPC centers and/or national laboratories to foster innovation and competitive gain as well as the importance of HPC within the supply chain to maximize efficiency, profitability, and cost control.

The Council on Competitiveness was founded in 1986 during a period of great anxiety about American competitiveness. The United States was losing market shares to international competitors, facing stagnant productivity growth, and suffering from high unemployment and inflation. Two dozen industry, university and labor leaders came together to elevate competitiveness as a national priority and to tackle those economic challenges.

The Council’s mission is just as relevant today as it was 22 years ago. We are now in a new era that will be shaped by turbulence, transition and transformation. Seismic shifts are dramatically altering the world’s competitive landscape and the ecosystems that drive growth and prosperity.

As the Council on Competitiveness prepares to close out another great year, we are delighted to share with you the success and progress we experienced in 2007. We saw tremendous validation of our past work and launched new initiatives aimed at securing America’s competitiveness in an increasingly globalized economy.

As we step into the 21st century, technology complexity and interdependence are increasing the risks for companies and countries alike. Extended and interdependent energy, transportation, information and communications networks can quickly magnify the impact of single point failure —whether triggered by attack or accident. Operational risks were once thought to be a back office concern and trivial in comparison to market and credit risks, but they are becoming “bet-thecompany” risks that merit far more attention.