Obama emphasizes business innovation as key to building more jobs

January 30, 2011|Associated Press

WASHINGTON — President Obama is promoting business innovation as a building block to more jobs, part of a retooled economic message that aims to highlight advances in the private sector over expensive government programs.

With a Wisconsin energy company as a backdrop, Obama used his weekly radio and Internet address yesterday to prod businesses to help speed up an economic recovery that is still beset by high unemployment.

“That’s how America will win the future — by out-innovating, out-educating, and out-building our competitors,’’ he said.

Obama taped the message Wednesday at Orion Energy Systems, a Manitowoc, Wis., company specializing in solar power and energy-efficient technologies. The innovation pitch is part of a broader White House effort to move away from the high-dollar spending the administration relied on to pull the economy out of recession.

Last week, Obama made a case for freer trade as a prescription for US job growth and said the nation must emphasize efforts to open markets abroad. This week, the president will continue his role as a booster of American innovation. He plans to discuss innovation with technology business leaders on Tuesday and has scheduled a visit Wednesday to Pennsylvania State University, which is involved in an Energy Department program on energy-efficient buildings.