President Barack Obama named Intel chief executive Paul Otellini to the Council on Jobs and Competitiveness on Feb. 18. The announcement was made during a tour of an Intel facility billed as the world's most advanced semi-conductor plant.
The council is an advisory board, headed by General Electric chief executive Jeffrey Immelt, that is dedicated to finding new ways to boost economic growth, hiring and the education and training of workers.
The President's message is that the United States must innovate and create new 21st century industries to compete with the challenge from rising economic giants like India and China. On Feb. 17 he met the cream of Silicon Valley business titans, including ailing Apple boss Steve Jobs, to seek input on how to speed up job growth and economic recovery.
The group also included Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, Yahoo president and CEO Carol Bartz, Twitter CEO Dick Costello and Google and CEO Eric Schmidt.
The group discussed "ways to work together to invest in American innovation and promote private sector job growth," the White House said.
Spokesman Jay Carney said Obama "believes that American companies like these have been leading by investing in the creativity and ingenuity of the American people, creating cutting-edge new technologies and promoting new ways to communicate."
The president discussed his proposals "to invest in research and development and expand incentives for companies to grow and hire, along with his goal of doubling exports over five years to support millions of American jobs."
Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2011
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