ARLINGTON, Va. – To foster more innovation in the future, business needs to help reshape K-12 education to grow better thinkers, and the United States should reform its immigration policy to attract and keep talent from various parts of the world.
Those were two of the main points that business leaders made Tuesday during the inaugural “Innovation Summit” hosted by The Atlantic Magazine.
“Now, universities are training many people around the globe and (the United States) is forcing them to go home,” said Boeing CEO James McNerney. “Great for them, other countries and the global economy. But it cuts off that flow that has led to populating our companies and institutions with great people.
McNerney said he favors “a much more liberal immigration policy, particularly as it relates to the kind of workers we need to fill [science, technology, engineering and mahmatics] kinds of jobs.”
“I think it’s very unwise to pursue the policy we are pursuing now, because it takes down the number of jobs in this country, forces us to go elsewhere in some cases, and we do have people who live outside the United States who want to come here and work here,” said McNerney, who serves on President Obama’s Council on Jobs and Competitiveness and as chair of the president’s Export Council.
McNerney made his remarks in the historic lobby terminal A at Reagan National Airport. In the backdrop was Boeing’s new 787 Dreamliner, a more fuel-efficient plane that several speakers pointed to as a prime example of the kind of innovation that can take place when the industry is able to harness the talents of diverse people from around the world.
McNerney said roughly half of the work that involved construction of the plane was done offshore.
