The NII began in 2003 as a multi-year effort engaging hundreds of leaders across the country and from all walks of life to optimize our entire society for a future in which innovation will be the single most important factor in shaping prosperity.
In 2004, more than 500 leaders from around the world attended the National Innovation Summit in Washington, D.C., where the Council released the landmark report, Innovate America: Thriving in a World of Challenge and Change.
The report lays out an action agenda for a wide range of stakeholders to improve U.S. innovation capacity. The ground-breaking agenda includes more than 60 detailed recommendations grouped under the innovation platforms; talent, technology, investment and infrastructure.
In August 2007, President George W. Bush signed the America COMPETES Act into law, which finds its roots in Innovate America and in the work of the Council's National Innovation Initiative.
