Charles Wessner

Charles Wessner is an adjunct professor at Georgetown University, where he teaches global innovation policy while also serving as a senior adviser (non-resident) to the CSIS Renewing American Innovation Program. He is active as a speaker, researcher, and writer with a global lens on innovation policy and has frequently advised technology agencies, universities, and governments on effective innovation policies. He served for two decades as a National Academies scholar, where he founded and directed the National Academy of Sciences' Technology, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship Program. At the National Academies, Dr. Wessner’s research addressed the importance of semiconductor research and production to innovation and national security. In collaboration with Gordon Moore and Bill Spencer, his influential reports included Securing the Future: Regional and National Programs to Support the Semiconductor Industry and Innovative Flanders: Innovation Policies for the 21st Century, which reviewed the role of IMEC, the cooperative research center. His most recent publication with Thomas Howell, Regional Renaissance: How New York’s Capital Region Became a Nanotechnology Powerhouse (Springer, 2020), documents how state investments in universities, new institutions, and infrastructure created a vibrant semiconductor cluster creating thousands of jobs and regional growth. He is also a leading U.S. expert on Sematech, the U.S. semiconductor consortium, and the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program, which provides awards to promising small businesses and start-ups. Reflecting his commitment to transatlantic cooperation, he was awarded the Order of Merit by the president of France.
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Book Event: Chris Miller's "Chip War: The Fight for the World's Most Critical Technology"
Event by Sujai Shivakumar , Charles Wessner , and Chris Miller — January 11, 2023

Toward a New Multilateral Export Control Regime
Commentary by Sujai Shivakumar , Charles Wessner , and Hideki Uno — January 10, 2023

Reshoring Semiconductor Manufacturing: Addressing the Workforce Challenge
Report by Sujai Shivakumar , Charles Wessner , and Thomas Howell — October 6, 2022

Renew SBIR, Just Defend the Recipients against China
Report by Charles Wessner and Sujai Shivakumar — September 14, 2022

Can Semiconductor Reshoring Prime a U.S. Manufacturing Renaissance?
Commentary by Sujai Shivakumar , Charles Wessner , and Tom Howell — September 1, 2022

The Great Rewiring: How Global Supply Chains Are Reacting to Today’s Geopolitics
Commentary by Sujai Shivakumar , Gregory Arcuri , and Charles Wessner — July 25, 2022

Opportunities and Pitfalls for U.S.-EU Collaboration on Semiconductor Value Chain Resilience
Commentary by Sujai Shivakumar , Charles Wessner , and Thomas Howell — July 7, 2022

Semiconductors and National Defense: What Are the Stakes?
Commentary by Sujai Shivakumar and Charles Wessner — June 8, 2022

Reshoring Semiconductors with the Chips Act: Key Lessons from Albany, New York
Commentary by Charles Wessner and Thomas R. Howell — June 2, 2022

The Pillars Necessary for a Strong Domestic Semiconductor Industry
Report by Sujai Shivakumar , Charles Wessner , and Thomas Howell — May 20, 2022
