Notes from the fireside chat with Ursula Burns, Xerox CEO, and Susan Hockfield, MIT President.(Please note: any grammatical and spelling errors are those of the note taker.)
We need to be impatient with the status quo; we need to worry about the ambition deficit.
Susan Hockfield is asked: what keeps you up at night in regards to innovation in America? It's a long list, but it includes importance of impatience and ambition deficit, making sure we have enough money to make research thrive. There's a real problem for the youth of America: we need to pull them - they'll go where there's opportunity and things that they can do. These cycles of funding/enthusiasm/opportunity are dangerous, we lose 3-4 years of funding, that's 3-4 years of kids that we're missing. We need longer term solutions, and large, but not outrageously large investments, so we're strong in 10 years, with a growing economy, by using the power of the young people.
Ursala Burns is asked: In meetings with the President, what do you emphasize to him? There's no doubt of the importance of this issue to the administration and they are aware of the timeliness. The two areas she decided to get involved in are education and energy; if we don't solve these problems, we don't have any options as a nation. We are underutilizing the capabilities of Washington, including the funding and getting people together. We just have to make it faster and clearer.
Susan Hockfield: The worldview of the nation has changed. US was THE place to be, and it still is in come cases and educational programs. Now innovation centers are springing up around the world, including about energy, and there are more options for people, places to go, for inventing the future, and our immigration policy is still the same, so people don't have to put up with the indignity of it anymore. We need the best minds to solve problems, and places like MIT and Xerox are making connections with the global innovation system. But US policies "prohibit us from competing with the ferocity" that's needed in this new climate.
Ursula Burns is asked: With your background, what would you say to people out there today? The whole idea was that she had to find the opportunities and go after them. Her mother pushed them very hard and expected them to over-take advantage of the opportunities that would be found. The idea of the ambition deficit/impatience; it's not the economic issue only, it's embodied in the issue of lack of hope. The path to a better life is to have a better mind, that's been true since the beginning of time. You have to engage yourself in solving problems. We need an economy that makes things and solves complex problems, but we have to take the least wealthy person and give them the foundation, and push children hard, have high expectations, even if parents aren't around.
Susan Hockfield is asked: Do you have confidence now that this time around, there is seriousness, resolve, and capacity to make investments in the right place?
In this room, yes, we're ready. There are many factors in the equation as to where we invent and make stuff, and a big part of all that is the cost of energy. Manufacturing jobs have decreased, but in regards to the manufacturing productivity dollar, US and China are even. If you look at the number of people employed for the same dollar output, we have 10% of the workforce but the same productivity. We make things faster with fewer people and more economically. She hears positive things from business leaders that it makes sense to manufacture some things in the US. She loves it that there are R&D centers coming up in Rio, Shanghai and all of these different areas where millions of people will be able to come out of poverty. The US can't sit back and use a 1960's model.
Ursula Burns is asked: What are the characteristics of the 1960's model that have to be demolished?
Ursula Burns: We need a more symbiotic relationship between industry and government. Policies drive business cycles; cooperation drives business in a positive way. There's no reason for things not to be made here except for the financial/cycle issues. We need to align policies that are long-term and with shorter cycles. If you look at the landscape of the issues, for example the R&D tax credit. It's not a bad thing, everybody thinks it's the right thing, and we still can't figure out a way to do the right thing, or more of the right thing. We shouldn't settle down, and we need to narrow our focus to the most important things. Having a system that drives creation and innovation is fundamental to our history and our future.
Ursula Burns is asked: Do you think we need a smart industrial policy? We need a set of public/private collaborations that drive sustained growth over cycles, over elections.
Susan Hockfield: We've had a set of policies that have fostered innovation and successful companies. Building blocks have to do with education; it's not that we're doing less than we were before, it's just that other nations are stepping up. Infrastructure: Other nations e.g. China made fantastic investments in infrastructure, and/or are taking better care of them than we are (e.g. Europe). So for industrial policy, it needs to lead to a successful society where people feel that by working hard they can get something done for themselves and for the nation and the world. It's not rocket science but it's hard when you come to Washington and try to get things done. Who is articulating a big agenda for the country? We don't seem to agree on a direction for the nation. There are many countries around the world coming into a more mature form of government, and we should be a model. We had a good model, and we need to get back to it.
Can America pull itself together? What are the most important things to change expectations?
Ursula Burns: Education with a focus on science and technology, have high expectations.
Susan: We have been a leader, now we have to decide where we want to be: what will inspire our people to work harder? We need national ambition.
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