Reimagining Industrial Policy for the Service and Tech Sectors

Industrial policy is an important lever to ensure a productive and strong economy. While industrial policy has historically focused on the manufacturing sector, a modern industrial policy that is focused on creating good jobs in the service sector and on improving resilience in the technology sector would improve economic growth and ensure those benefits are equitably shared. These policies could include making service sector jobs more productive and secure, identifying and solving critical technology issues, and improving supply chains. 

On Wednesday, September 28, 2022, The Hamilton Project at the Brookings Institution hosted an in-person event examining the role for a modernized industrial policy that addresses ongoing and emerging challenges. The event featured introductory remarks by former U.S. Treasury Secretary Robert E. Rubin and a fireside chat with U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo moderated by Alex Burns. 

The forum also included two panel discussions featuring Mary Kay Henry (SEIU), Eric Schmidt (Schmidt Futures), Dani Rodrik (Harvard Kennedy School), Erica Fuchs (Carnegie Mellon University), Sameera Fazili (National Economic Council), and Wendy Edelberg (The Hamilton Project). 

The event coincided with the release of two new Hamilton Project proposals that focus on ways to modernize U.S. industrial policy to better recognize the significant role the service sector plays in the economy and to establish a program that increases capacity for critical technology analytics and a set of economic facts on the state of the service sector.

For updates on the event, viewers followed @HamiltonProj on Twitter and joined the conversation using #IndustrialPolicy.