Chaired by Hoover Institution senior fellows Amy Zegart and Gen. H.R. McMaster on Dec. 2 and 3, 2025, the symposium convened 50 senior leaders from government, academia, industry, and the defense community for candid, off-the-record discussions on the most pressing challenges at the intersection of technology, economics, and national security. At a moment of intensifying competition with China, the meeting focused on how the United States and like-minded partners can better align policy, innovation, and institutional capacity to sustain long-term strategic advantage.
Hosted by the Technology Policy Accelerator, participants examined the global race for leadership in artificial intelligence, including the risks posed by the overwhelmingly private character of frontier AI development and the growing difficulty public institutions face in keeping pace. Discussions highlighted the constraints universities and research institutions face in securing the talent, compute, and resources needed to remain central to scientific and technological progress, as well as the broader national implications of that imbalance.
The symposium also took up one of the hardest long-term questions in American competitiveness: whether the United States is building the human capital base needed to lead. Attendees explored pressures on the STEM pipeline, from shortcomings in K–12 education to the state of immigration policies in attracting and retaining exceptional talent. These conversations reflected a broader concern that strategic competition will be shaped not only by technological breakthroughs, but by the strength and capacity of the institutions behind them.
Participants also assessed areas where the United States maintains meaningful technological advantages, where signs of narrowing gaps are emerging, and what government, academia, and industry must do to convert existing strengths into durable national power. Throughout, the discussion returned to a central theme: the need for stronger connections across sectors that too often operate separately, particularly as the challenges they face grow more intertwined.
While convening leaders across the three communities, Tech Track 2 not only deepened a mutual understanding of technoeconomic challenges but built meaningful relationships and lasting connections that can help bridge institutional divides well beyond the symposium itself. It brought together leaders grappling not only with where strategic competition stands today, but with what it will take to ensure the United States is better positioned for what comes next.
