The U.S. is at a pivotal moment to transform its industrial base. As major technological advancements converge with geopolitical tensions and supply chain vulnerabilities, innovation across our core physical sectors is the key to achieving national goals. This means the tech world and the government must work together more closely than ever. State and federal agencies are pushing for reindustrialization and technological competitiveness, but to successfully build a resilient, competitive, and future-focused industrial base in the U.S., private-sector innovation must play a crucial role.
Eclipse has embraced this challenge since 2015. For the past decade, Eclipse has been at the forefront of investing in and building the new generation of physical industries by partnering with entrepreneurs to reshape advanced manufacturing, healthcare, defense, supply chain, and on. The firm’s experienced operators have built generational companies like Tesla, Samsara, Flexport, and Rivian, and uniquely understand what it will take to bolster our critical sectors.
As Eclipse enters its next decade of rebuilding the world’s most fundamental industries amid this moment of great change, that level of collaboration with the public sector is increasing significantly. This is why I’m joining Eclipse as the firm’s first Head of Policy and Government Affairs: to be the liaison connecting the private and public sectors in order to strengthen the U.S.’ physical industries.
Disruption is Required
From 2017-2021, I served in the White House and at the U.S. Department of Energy, principally as the Deputy Assistant to the President for International Economics. Coming from a career in investing, I was excited to join a wave of people — often with atypical backgrounds for government service — who were determined to challenge long standing assumptions about key economic and foreign policy issues in Washington.
During my time in government, new ideas started to take hold: Perhaps most importantly, there was an increasing recognition that a fundamentally different approach was required for the United States to engage in a long-term economic competition with China. Triage began from a starting condition of a badly weakened U.S. manufacturing base (with attendant damage to vulnerable communities across the country), a crippling regulatory and tax regime, and a porous investment security framework which had allowed years of damaging intellectual property theft and forced technology transfer. The trends were not in our favor.
Despite the clear imperative to change course, we met stiff resistance from the policy and corporate establishment. In response to efforts to change the policy prescription, we encountered relentless repetition of ideological orthodoxy — including from incumbent multinational corporations — and a steady drumbeat of negativity that the U.S. would never bring back domestic manufacturing and couldn’t compete across a wide range of physical industries.
We didn’t accept that conclusion.
Expressing it through their portfolio, neither did the team at Eclipse. And neither did the dynamic builders and innovators who were starting companies like VulcanForms, Bright Machines, Cerebras, True Anomaly, Cellares, and Ursa Major. A common thread of optimism links these cohorts; a stubborn insistence that we can take on big challenges — fight these fights — and win.
The central theme of the current Trump administration is that the scale of the challenges we face requires even deeper-rooted change to our trajectory. To meet the defining challenges of our time, disruption — which may be bumpy, uncomfortable, and jarring — is urgently required.
For national security, this means that defense procurement cannot be solely dominated by stultified defense primes with a monopoly on bloated Pentagon contracts. It means incentivizing our innovators and quickly embracing a new paradigm of defense technology.
For energy, this means an urgency to rebuild our energy systems — using all forms of energy — so the U.S. maintains dominance in the global AI competition. It means focusing on energy security and supply chain vulnerabilities in areas like energy storage and nuclear energy.
For advanced manufacturing, it means using robotics and AI to build new models of highly efficient production for essential products and technologies like semiconductors, medical products, and electrical equipment.
To meet the defining challenges of our time, disruption — which may be bumpy, uncomfortable, and jarring — is urgently required.
Across every vertical, it means aggressively peeling back layers of regulatory encumbrance that constrict our innovators, raise their costs, and inhibit their ability to scale.
Revolutionizing Our Physical Industries
Our success or failure in fundamentally changing the U.S. economic model will turn on how – and whether – we bring to bear the strengths of our innovators and builders. From onshoring and strengthening U.S. manufacturing, to fortifying our defense capabilities, to building a system of secure, affordable, abundant energy, D.C.’s vision perfectly aligns with the mission Eclipse has championed since its inception.
Policy can’t just be an afterthought for innovators. It should be the driving force shaping the trajectory and growth of physical industries. The challenges may be great, but the opportunities are even greater. I’m eager to work with the Eclipse team, our founders, and government officials.
More on today's news from Reuters.
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