America’s Advanced Industries: What They Are, Where They Are, and Why They Matter

The need for economic renewal in the United States remains urgent.

Years of disappointing job growth and stagnant incomes for the majority of workers have left the nation shaken and frustrated.

At the same time, astonishing new technologies - ranging from advanced robotics and “3-D printing” to the “digitization of everything” - are provoking genuine excitement even as they make it hard to see where things are going.

Hence this paper: At a critical moment, this report asserts the special importance to America’s future of what the paper calls America’s “advanced industries” sector.

Characterized by its deep involvement with technology research and development (R&D) and STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) workers, the sector encompasses 50 industries ranging from manufacturing industries such as automaking and aerospace to energy industries such as oil and gas extraction to high-tech services such as computer software and computer system design, including for health applications.

These industries encompass the nation’s “tech” sector at its broadest and most consequential. Their dynamism is going to be a central component of any future revitalized U.S. economy. As such, these industries encompass the country’s best shot at supporting innovative, inclusive, and sustainable growth.

For that reason, this report provides a wide-angle overview of the advanced industry sector that reviews its role in American prosperity, assesses key trends, and maps its metropolitan and global competitive standing before outlining high-level strategies to enhance that.

Advanced industries’ share of total employment varies significantly across major metropolitan areas