The America21 Project aims to promote inclusive competitiveness through STEM education, entrepreneurship, and investment. It seeks to connect disadvantaged citizens to innovation clusters and emerging industries. Inclusive competitiveness measures how diverse populations perform within innovation ecosystems and emerging sectors to improve overall economic competitiveness. It is supported by education, entrepreneurship, and capital formation. America21 aims to diffuse inclusive competitiveness throughout regional, national, and global economies.

1. Inclusive Competitiveness: Glossary of Concepts and Terms
The America21 Project (America21)
America21 is a nationally networked and regionally focused social enterprise whose mission is to
inculcate a new 21st century economic narrative that connects disconnected citizens to Innovation
Economy clusters, ecosystems and emerging industry sectors through STEM education, high-growth
entrepreneurship and risk capital formation and investment.
The approach is grounded in principles of economic competitiveness and inclusion – Inclusive
Competitiveness – and further extends proven innovation- and technology-based economic
development strategies to seed the next generation of innovators, entrepreneurs and employees
within urban communities and metropolitan centers.
Innovation Economy
The time period of the late 20th and early 21st centuries marked by radical socioeconomic changes
brought about by further globalized commerce, democratized information and access, accelerated
new knowledge creation and exponential growth in entrepreneurship.
Inclusive Competitiveness
Targeted metrics and strategies to measure and improve characteristic performance levels of diverse
populations within innovation ecosystems and clusters, emerging industry sectors and other areas
critical to overall economic competitiveness.
Inclusive Competitiveness neither alters nor replaces, but rather complements and enhances existing
and emerging economic competitiveness metrics and strategies, exclusively focusing on the
characteristic performance of diverse populations.
3 Inclusive Competitiveness Pillars
Inclusive Competitiveness is girded by three pillars:
education, specifically STEM (science, technology, engineering and math),
entrepreneurship, especially high-growth,
capital formation and investment, including equity, debt and credit.
“T.A.P.I.M.” Progression
Inclusive Competitiveness responds to the same needs and follows the same “T.A.P.I.M.” Progression
that created the existing innovation ecosystems and clusters:
Thought, Advocacy, Policy, Investment, Market
• New Thought and Advocacy produce a new economic narrative
• New economic narrative breaks through to form new Policy
• New Policy is adopted to attract new Investment
• New Investment is offered to incent new Market reactions
Changing the Economic Narrative • Promoting Inclusive Competitiveness • Connecting the Economically Disconnected
Email: info@blackinnovation.com • Blog: http://blackinnovation.org

2. Innovation Ecosystem
Like the natural world, everything in the Innovation Economy is connected. An innovation ecosystem
is an interconnected, interdependent and balanced community of assets:
people and talent (entrepreneurs/management/workforce);
capital (equity/credit/debt);
education institutions (K-12/higher education);
research and commercialization resources (universities/corporations/tech transfer);
customers (marquee);
philanthropy (community wealth);
government (local/state/federal)
professional services (legal/accounting/intermediary organizations)
Assets within the ecosystem work together to create new enterprises, jobs, wealth and economic
prosperity. However, unlike natural ecosystems that are organically created, innovation ecosystems
must be intentionally created.
Inclusive Competitiveness Diffusion
As innovation ecosystems and clusters help create more economically competitive regions; Inclusive
Competitiveness helps create more economically competitive regional innovation ecosystems and
clusters by connecting Disconnected Citizens to new opportunities. Thus, improving ecosystem and
cluster performance and leading to more successful overall economic competitiveness outcomes.
America21 Model for Diffusing Inclusive Competitiveness
Throughout Regional, State and National Economies, Into the Global Economy
State Economies U.S Economy Global Economy
Enhance Competitiveness of . . . Which Enhances Competitiveness of . . .
Regional Economies State Economies U.S. Economy
Enhance Competitiveness of . . . Which Enhance Competitiveness of . . .
Regional Innovation Ecosystems and Clusters Regional Economies State Economies
Enhance Competitiveness of . . . Which Enhance Competitiveness of . . .
Inclusive Competitiveness Regional Innovation Ecosystems and Clusters Regional Economies
Enhances Competitiveness of . . . Which Enhance Competitiveness of . . .
Law of Economic Competitiveness
No region can sustainably increase economic competitiveness without growing enough of the right
people to create and take advantage of that increased economic competitiveness.
If your region’s economic competitiveness goals consistently outpace your growth rate in the right
people, you simply will not – indeed cannot – build a resilient, economically competitive region.
Inspired by Packard’s Law of Hewlett & Packard Co-Founder, David Packard
Changing the Economic Narrative • Promoting Inclusive Competitiveness • Connecting the Economically Disconnected
Email: info@blackinnovation.com • Blog: http://blackinnovation.org

3. Equity Citizens
Equity Citizens are Americans with economic ownership holdings or interests in the United States.
Equity Citizens are entitled and able to access an equitable proportion of the nation’s best
opportunities to achieve economic empowerment. The term is used to distinguish from
Constitutional Citizens.
Constitutional Citizens
Constitutional Citizens are Americans by birthright enshrined in the Constitution or by acquisition
through naturalization. Constitutional Citizens are full and equal citizens under law, but do not
necessarily have much, if any, underlying economic ownership holdings or interests in the U.S. They
are entitled to, but not able to access, the nation’s best opportunities to achieve economic
empowerment. The term is used to distinguish from Equity Citizens.
Economic Empowerment
Economic Empowerment is self-active, innovative and competitive, able to bring about a sustainable
state of economic growth and development — rooted in education, capital formation and
investment, entrepreneurship and employment.
Innovation Economy Squeeze
Innovation Economy Squeeze is the dramatically increasing level of U.S. business productivity,
enabled by efficiency gains from new technology adoption and integration (and far fewer
employees), combined with the increasingly “flat world,” (where competition for new jobs is global),
that squeezes Americans in unprecedented ways.
Fewer Americans are needed to produce more goods and services; and billions of new workers
around the world are now competing with Americans for new jobs in diverse geographic regions.
Connected Citizens
Connected Citizens are Americans with the awareness of innovation ecosystems, skills, competencies
and access to economic networks, and characteristic performance levels required to successfully
connect to innovation clusters, ecosystems and emerging industry sector opportunities.
Disconnected Citizens
Disconnected Citizens are Americans lacking some or all of the following: awareness of innovation
ecosystems, requisite skills and competencies, access to economic networks, and characteristic
performance levels necessary to successfully connect to innovation clusters, ecosystems and
emerging industry sector opportunities.
Trim Tabbers
Trim Tabbers are persons whose capabilities provide the higher leverage leadership needed to turn a
matter of importance in the desired direction. Their actions significantly increase the achievement
potential of the group, considerably enhancing the probability of mission success — achieving
exponential impact, rather than incremental outcomes.
Changing the Economic Narrative • Promoting Inclusive Competitiveness • Connecting the Economically Disconnected
Email: info@blackinnovation.com • Blog: http://blackinnovation.org

4. Trim Tab Organizations
Trim Tab Organizations are entities demonstrating an operational
approach to mission impact based on aggregating key resources,
organizing those resources into actionable, collaborative forms
and highly leveraging them to achieve exponential impact, rather
than incremental outcomes.
Trim Tab Movement
The Trim Tab Movement is a series of high-leverage, organized actions and events of national or
global scale, yet local in implementation and impact, that take place over an extended period of time,
working to achieve exponential impact, rather than incremental outcomes.
Changing the Economic Narrative • Promoting Inclusive Competitiveness • Connecting the Economically Disconnected
Email: info@blackinnovation.com • Blog: http://blackinnovation.org