Priority Technologies: Ensuring US Security and Shared Prosperity

How to build innovation and industrial ecosystems in the US that support global leadership in priority technologies of the future.

A new world order is emerging, and within it, US priorities are shifting. A reconfiguration of global supply chains. The redrawing of geopolitical lines and alliances with increasing threats of conflict. A rise in weather-related disasters. And the emergence of transformative technologies. All these factors are converging to create an environment filled with uncertainty and change—but also possibility.

For the country to flourish as well as defend and secure its interests, it must build on its decades of experience in developing frontier technologies and globally competitive industries through investments into priority technologies for the twenty-first century. This volume, edited by Elisabeth Reynolds, presents a high-level introduction to some of the key areas where the United States must excel and lead in the coming decades to ensure both national and economic security. The book provides an overview of six key priority technologies—critical minerals, semiconductors, biomanufacturing, quantum computing, drones, and advanced manufacturing—needed to build the innovation and industrial ecosystems that will keep the US secure and drive shared prosperity.

Contributors:
Elsa A. Olivetti, Jesús del Alamo, J. Christopher Love, William D. Oliver, Jonathan Ruane, and Fiona E. Murray.

Elisabeth B. Reynolds is Professor of the Practice, Department of Urban Studies and Planning, at MIT. She previously served as Special Assistant to the President for Manufacturing and Economic Development at the National Economic Council in 2021–2022 as well as the Executive Director of the MIT Task Force on the Work of the Future and the Industrial Performance Center from 2010–2021.