The president unveiled a new "innovation strategy" that builds on $100 billion of economic stimulus funds to support entrepreneurship, education, infrastructure and other investments.
The plan aims to make the U.S. economy more competitive and help prevent volatile "boom and bust" cycles in the future, Obama said.
"As we emerge from this economic crisis, our great challenge will be to ensure that we do not simply drift into the future, accepting less for our children and less for America," Obama told students at Hudson Valley Community College in Troy, N.Y. "Instead, we must choose to do what past generations have done: shape a brighter future through hard work and innovation."
Obama reiterated his call for increased investment in green energy technology, electronic health records and manufacturing advanced vehicles.
The president also pointed to proposed tax cuts and trade policies his administration has perused as ways to make U.S. companies more competitive and prosperous.
"Our strategy begins where innovation so often does: in the classroom and in the laboratory -- and in the networks that connect them to the broader economy," the president said in prepared remarks. "These are the building blocks of innovation: education, infrastructure, and research."
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