15 U.S.C. § 3718 — President’s Council on Innovation and Competitiveness

(a) The President must establish a President’s Council on Innovation and Competitiveness.

(b) The Council’s duties include: (1) monitoring how public laws and initiatives promoting innovation are carried out, including policies about research funding, taxes, immigration, trade, and education proposed in this Act or another Act; (2) advising the President about worldwide trends in competitiveness and innovation and about allocating federal resources for education, job training, and technology research and development in light of those trends; (3) consulting with the Director of the Office of Management and Budget and developing a process that uses measures to assess how existing and proposed policies and rules affect innovation capabilities in the United States; (4) finding opportunities and recommending that executive-agency heads improve innovation, monitoring, and reporting on carrying out those recommendations; (5) developing measures of the Federal Government’s progress in improving conditions for innovation, including through developing talent, investment, and infrastructure improvements; and (6) sending the President and Congress an annual report on that progress.

(c)(1) The Council consists of the Secretary or head of each of these departments, agencies, or offices: (A) Commerce; (B) Defense; (C) Education; (D) Energy; (E) Health and Human Services; (F) Homeland Security; (G) Labor; (H) the Treasury; (I) the National Aeronautics and Space Administration^*; (J) the Securities and Exchange Commission; (K) the National Science Foundation; (L) the Office of the United States Trade Representative; (M) the Office of Management and Budget; (N) the Office of Science and Technology Policy; (O) the Environmental Protection Agency; (P) the Small Business Administration; and (Q) any other department or agency the President designates. (2) The Secretary of Commerce is the Council’s Chairperson. (3) The Chairperson must ensure appropriate coordination between the Council and the National Economic Council, National Security Council, and National Science and Technology Council. (4) The Council must meet twice each year when the Chairperson calls it. Its first meeting must occur no later than 6 months after August 9, 2007.

(d)(1) The Council must develop a comprehensive agenda to strengthen the innovation and competitiveness capabilities of the Federal Government, State governments, academia, and the private sector in the United States. (2) The agenda must include: (A) an assessment of the current strengths and weaknesses of United States investment in research and development; (B) recommendations for addressing weaknesses and keeping the United States a world leader in research and development and technological innovation, including ways to increase participation in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics by individuals identified in section 1885a or 1885b of title 42; and (C) recommendations for strengthening the innovation and competitiveness capabilities of the Federal Government, State governments, academia, and the private sector in the United States.

(3)(A) No later than 30 days after August 9, 2007, the National Academy of Sciences, consulting with the National Academy of Engineering, the Institute of Medicine, and the National Research Council, must develop and send the President a list of 50 people recommended as Council advisers while the agenda is developed. The list must include appropriate representatives of: (i) the private economic sector; (ii) labor; (iii) fields including information technology, energy, engineering, high-technology manufacturing, health care, and education; (iv) scientific organizations; (v) academic and other nongovernmental organizations working in science or technology; and (vi) nongovernmental professional organizations representing individuals identified in section 1885a or 1885b of title 42 in science, engineering, technology, and mathematics. (B) No later than 30 days after the Academy sends the list, the President must designate 50 people as Council advisers. (C) The Council must develop the agenda in consultation with the advisers.

(4)(A) No later than 1 year after August 9, 2007, the Council must send the agenda to Congress and the President. (B) At least every 2 years, it must update the agenda and send each update to Congress and the President.

(e) Despite subsection (a) and paragraphs (1) and (2) of subsection (c), the President may designate an existing council to perform this section’s requirements.