In Retooling for Growth, experts present new frameworks, cutting-edge analysis, and innovative policy solutions through which the nation's government, business, civic and community leaders can sculpt a sustainable and supportable economy for older industrial areas. The unique focus on rehabilitating weak market cities outlines ideas for reshaping the role of public agencies, the workforce, business organizations, and technology. Implementation of these measures addresses challenges such as fostering entrepreneurship, reducing poverty and inequality, and maintaining and augmenting the number of skilled professionals who reside and work in a community, among others.

Randall T. Kempner, vice president of Regional Innovation for the Council on Competitiveness, contributed the chapter “The Talent Imperative for Older Industrial Areas”, focusing on the global labor-related challenges these areas face.

This is today’s headline: The Collapse of Manufacturing, and many U.S. manufacturers and their supply chains are in crisis. In this time of crisis, the U.S. has the technological tools to maintain our competitive edge and global leadership in manufacturing, but we risk our manufacturing leadership position if we fail to utilize the game-changing tool of high performance computing (HPC) for modeling, simulation, and analysis.

While U.S. entrepreneurial performance continues to lead the world by almost any measure, this analysis demonstrates that other nations are catching up to the United States in a variety of ways – and highlights that the U.S. environment for entrepreneurial activity faces its own challenges and opportunities in the 21st century.