As the Chief Manufacturing Officer for Connecticut, I had the opportunity to travel across the state, visiting more than 375 manufacturing companies in three years. As the only Chief Manufacturing Officer in America that worked for a Governor, I have met tens of thousands of people from manufacturing companies, industry service providers, educational institutions, and other industry stakeholders across the country, giving me a unique perspective of the manufacturing sector on a local, state, regional, and national basis.
When people talk about America’s competitiveness, the conversation often turns to technology. Are we innovating fast enough? Are we falling behind in AI, quantum computing, or advanced manufacturing? These are valid concerns, but they miss the real issue.
America doesn’t have a technology problem. We have a technology adoption problem.
The U.S. remains a global leader in innovation. Our universities, startups, and research labs produce breakthroughs at a staggering pace. From artificial intelligence to biotech, the pipeline of ideas is strong. Yet, these innovations often stall when it comes to widespread implementation.
Why? Because adoption requires more than invention; it demands cultural, organizational, and systemic change.
The Gap Between Innovation and Implementation
In manufacturing, advanced robotics and IoT systems promise efficiency gains, yet small and mid-sized firms hesitate to invest. In government, digital transformation initiatives often languish under layers of bureaucracy.
Other industries such as healthcare, biotechnology, financial services, insurance, and others all have opportunities to drive operational and financial efficiency, improve customer service, and accelerate growth by implementing technologies that already exist.
This isn’t about capability; it’s about mindset and infrastructure. Companies fear disruption, employees resist change, and leaders underestimate the cost of doing nothing. Meanwhile, other nations—China, South Korea, Germany, for instance—are aggressively deploying technologies we invented.
Technology adoption drives productivity, competitiveness, and resilience. It’s what turns ideas into impact. Without adoption, innovation is just potential energy—stored but unused. In a global economy where speed matters, slow adoption is a strategic liability.
Closing the Adoption Gap
To close the Adoption Gap, it requires industry, government, and academia to come together to focus on the barriers to adoption. Industry must invest in implementing change-management initiatives, training their existing workforce on the benefits of adopting technology to improve operations. Government must incentivize risk taking.
Tax Credits, grants, and investing in centers of excellence are critical to engage, educate, and enable companies to adopt new technology. Academia can lead this initiative. We have the infrastructure, expertise, and labor force to drive adoption of technology by partnering with industry and government.
America’s future won’t be determined by how many patents we file, but by how quickly we put those ideas to work. Innovation is our strength. Adoption must become our obsession.
Paul S. Lavoie is the Vice President of Innovation and Applied Technology at the University of New Haven in West Haven, CT.
