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Commerce Introduces Supply Chain Summit

[ October 4, 2024   //   ]

The U.S. Department of Commerce, in collaboration with the Council on Foreign Relations, or CFR, hosted its inaugural Supply Chain Summit on Sept. 10, bringing together leaders from government, industry, academia, and communities.
The summit was intended to highlight efforts by the U.S. government and industry to shift from reacting to global supply chain disruptions to proactively strengthening supply chain resilience.
“By working with industry and taking an analytical, proactive approach, we are working to prevent the kind of supply chain failures that drove up costs for Americans during the pandemic and to create new economic opportunities for communities across the nation,” said U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo.
Commerce has sought to leverage its expertise and capabilities to focus its commercial engagement on risk assessment and resiliency, said Don Graves, deputy secretary. “We remember the dark days of COVID and what it felt like when medical devices, PPE, critical technologies, and everyday household appliances were out of reach. That’s why mitigating the impact was step one and turning reactive policies into proactive policies became our second chapter, which is precisely what was on display at the Supply Chain Summit.”

SCALE, Partners

At the summit, the Commerce Department said the following actions will be undertaken by the Industry & Analysis business unit within the International Trade Administration:
New efforts to build the U.S. government’s analytical capacity to understand and address supply chain risk.
• Launched SCALE Tool, a first-of-its kind diagnostic supply chain risk assessment tool that utilizes a comprehensive set of indicators to assess structural supply chain risk across the U.S. economy. The SCALE tool, coupled with the I&A’s deep industry expertise, will enable the U.S. government to be more proactive and strategic in addressing supply chain risk. The tool compares risks across industries and provides an in-depth assessment of what is driving those risks. SCALE will inform U.S. government decision-making and can facilitate data-driven conversations with industry on risks, opportunities, and actions that can advance supply chain resilience.
• SCALE Tool Findings: The Supply Chain Center will release key findings from the SCALE tool, coupled with relevant insights from I&A’s industry experts, and engage industry and other key stakeholders on the results.
• SCALE Tool Data Competition: I&A plans to launch a competition aimed at developing new data or analysis that can be used to expand the indicators of risk incorporated into the SCALE tool.
Expanded engagement with industry and other key stakeholders:
• Convening on AI Data Centers, to discuss risks associated with the supply chains for AI data centers, focused on the products and industries identified by I&A stakeholder engagement, in-house expertise, and the SCALE tool. Upstream and downstream suppliers and customers will assess current and future bottlenecks and risky dependencies, while helping to inform recommendations on steps industry and government can take to mitigate identified risks.
• Industry Supply Chain Tabletop Exercises: In 2025, I&A will conduct two tabletop exercises with industry to better understand opportunities to address structural supply chain risks faced by the U.S. One will focus on supply chain risks in the chemicals industry; the second will focus on an emerging technology that are critical in the U.S. maintaining a strategic advantage.
• New Strategic Partnerships: Seven new strategic partnerships with key stakeholders across industry and academia were announced to promote the global competitiveness of U.S. industry, help businesses become more resilient, and make its supply chain work more innovative and impactful. The new partners are: National Small Business Association, Association for Supply Chain Management, Council for Supply Chain Management Professionals, Institute for Supply Management, Industry Studies Association, Carnegie Mellon University, and Georgetown University.
More information about the key outcomes of the summit is outlined in the Supply Chain Resilience Fact Sheet, at https://tinyurl.com/3nxhsnzf.

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