Renewing American Innovation

Providing thoughtful analysis on the U.S. innovation ecosystem and exploring methods for sustaining American technological competitiveness

Renewing American Innovation (RAI) explores the policies and partnerships that will secure the United States’ role as a leading innovator while ensuring that all Americans have a shared stake in the innovation economy.

Producing insightful analysis and convening stakeholders from across the innovation ecosystem, RAI seeks to foster a public appreciation for the networks and institutions to which we owe much of our prosperity today.

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Meet our network of experts, staff, and non-resident affiliates. 

Sujai Shivakumar

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LeadershIP 2026

Presented by Renewing American Innovation
March 25, 2026 • 9:00 am – 5:00 pm EDT

Latest Analysis

Photo: Sergii Figurnyi/Adobe Stock

Photo: Sergii Figurnyi/Adobe Stock

Understanding Federal Equity Investments in Strategic Companies

The Trump administration has marked a significant shift in U.S. industrial policy. The U.S. government is now a direct shareholder in private companies, moving beyond traditional market-based approaches to competitiveness that have marked U.S. policy in the postwar period. 

Commentary by Sujai Shivakumar, Charles Wessner, and Christina Tutino — February 12, 2026

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Photo: iLab/CSIS

Innovation Insights

Innovation Insights is a video series exploring critical issues facing the United States in the realm of technology and innovation. Drawing from a network of experts and practitioners, Innovation Insights makes complex topics digestible and understandable for a general audience.

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LeadershIP 2026

Scholars, policymakers, and industry experts discuss cutting-edge policy issues at the intersection of innovation, intellectual property, and national security.

Event — March 25, 2026

Introducing “Watt’s Law” and The Power Supply Ceiling on American Innovation

Watt’s Law is the idea that the next decade of progress will be driven less by transistor shrinkage alone and more by how effectively we convert watts of electricity into useful computation through better full-system design, including accelerators, memory, networking, software, distribution via edge computing, and operations. Watt’s Law is not a law of physics and not a guaranteed doubling schedule. It is a rule-of-thumb about what is increasingly determining real-world AI capability, which is system efficiency and utilization under power constraint. For most of the modern digital economy, the United States has enjoyed a quiet structural advantage where computing kept getting better while the energy cost of using it generally fell. That assumption is collapsing, and countries that can mobilize power and compute at speed are on track to surpass us. The AI boom has pushed demand for computing beyond the comfortable world where transistors got cheaper and more efficient as a matter of course.

Event — February 12, 2026

Understanding Federal Equity Investments in Strategic Companies

The Trump administration has marked a significant shift in U.S. industrial policy. The U.S. government is now a direct shareholder in private companies, moving beyond traditional market-based approaches to competitiveness that have marked U.S. policy in the postwar period. 

Commentary by Sujai Shivakumar, Charles Wessner, and Christina Tutino — February 12, 2026

Understanding China’s Quest for Quantum Advancement

China's investments in quantum technology began with foundational research in 2001. This article examines where China stands today in its efforts to build capabilities across five quantum technology areas and how it is pursuing quantum innovation leadership.

Report by Hideki Tomoshige and Phillip Singerman — January 29, 2026

Tech Edge: A Living Playbook for America’s Technology Long Game

Winning the tech race is not about any single breakthrough. Leadership requires competing across the full menu of technologies, developing the dexterity to build at speed and scale, and defending our domestic markets from nonmarket competition.

Report by Navin Girishankar, Mark P. Dallas, Sree Ramaswamy, Scott Kennedy, Philip Luck, Joseph Majkut, Ilaria Mazzocco, Erin L. Murphy, Matt Pearl, Richard M. Rossow, Sujai Shivakumar, Chris Borges, Ray Cai, and Ryan Featherston — January 20, 2026

Audio Briefs

Universities, Patents, and the Future of U.S. Competitiveness

An audio version of “⁠Universities, Patents, and the Future of U.S. Competitiveness⁠,” a new commentary by CSIS’s Shruti Sharma and Chris Borges. This audio was generated with text-to-speech by Eleven Labs.  

Podcast Episode by Shruti Sharma and Chris Borges — December 15, 2025

Audio Briefs

Universities, Patents, and the Future of U.S. Competitiveness

The strength of the United States’ innovation system does not rest on government spending alone, but on the mutually supportive partnership between public investment, university research, and private enterprise. 

Commentary by Shruti Sharma and Chris Borges — December 15, 2025