Published
November 09, 2026
America needs to grow faster. That's why the U.S. Chamber of Commerce has long called for the nation to achieve at least 3% sustained annual economic growth. It remains one of our top organizational priorities, and for good reason: growth at that level is what it takes to create enough jobs, raise wages, and expand opportunity at the scale America needs.
There's no single lever for that. We need more workers, more investment, affordable energy, competitive tax policy, and modern infrastructure. But one ingredient runs through all of it: innovation. And innovation doesn't happen without strong, predictable intellectual property rights.
For too long, IP has been treated as a narrow legal issue, something for patent lawyers or a handful of tech and life-sciences companies. In reality, IP determines whether a founder can raise capital, whether a university discovery becomes a product, whether a manufacturer invests in a better process, whether a creator can build a business around original work. People are free to create, invest, compete, and keep the value they build. Few things capture the spirit of free enterprise better than that.
Growth now depends on productivity, and productivity depends on innovation
For most of the last century, a growing workforce drove growth. Demographics make that harder today. More of tomorrow's growth will have to come from productivity: getting more value from the people and capital we already have. That comes from innovation, whether it's a better manufacturing process, software that saves a small business hours of work, or a treatment that keeps people working longer. The Chamber's 3% agenda and its Global Innovation Policy Center’s (GIPC) work are linked for this reason. Productivity drives growth. Innovation drives productivity. IP protection is foundational to both.
The case isn't theoretical
According to the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), IP-intensive industries accounted for $11.4 trillion in economic activity in 2024, 44% of private-sector GDP, and nearly 66 million jobs. Workers in those industries earn 53% more on average and are nearly 60% more productive. IP-intensive industries also account for more than 80% of U.S. merchandise exports. And this activity isn't confined to Silicon Valley labs or corporate headquarters. The manufacturer protecting a new process, the small business building a trusted brand, the university researcher partnering with a company to commercialize a discovery: this is where that economic activity actually happens.
Putting more ideas to work
A discovery sitting on a lab shelf doesn't create jobs. The real economic value comes from commercialization: licensing a discovery, partnering with a manufacturer, raising capital without surrendering an idea outright. Clear IP rights make people willing to do that deal. The result is more companies, more products, and more jobs, not just more patents.
America doesn't have a monopoly on ingenuity
Americans are doers. Our advantage was never waiting for genius to strike. We've built an unrivaled environment for turning ideas into businesses, technologies, medicines, and jobs. That system wasn't built once and left alone, either. It has to be actively defended, improved, and made more accessible to more people. That's exactly why the Chamber took the Free Enterprise Express across the country: to make that case in person, community by community.
Other countries are competing hard for the capital, researchers, and industries that will define the next generation of growth. GIPC's International IP Index consistently shows that economies with stronger IP protections attract more of all three. Policymakers should ask themselves a simple question: are we making America a more attractive place to innovate, or a less attractive one?
A 3% agenda should encourage big bets
Will an entrepreneur attract capital? Will a manufacturer invest in new technology? Will a global company run its next research project here? Those decisions, multiplied across the economy, shape our growth trajectory. Public policy shapes those decisions, too. Patents, trademarks, copyright, trade secrets, and enforcement against counterfeiting all matter for this reason. They create the confidence to invest. And investment is how innovation becomes growth.
America has world-class universities, deep capital markets, and bold entrepreneurs. If we want to sustain 3% growth, we need to keep building the system that turns their ideas into something bigger, and keep defending it. Strong, predictable IP rights are part of how we do that.
About the author
Brad Watts
Brad Watts is the Senior Vice President at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's Global Innovation Policy Center (GIPC). He works with U.S. Chamber members to foster a political, legal, and economic environment where innovators and creators can invest in the next big thing for the benefit of Americans and the world.
