“Innovation is what changes the world.” – John Chambers

Top industry executives John Chambers (Cisco), Jeff Immelt (GE), Ursula Burns (Xerox) and Gary Shapiro (CEA), convened in the Las Vegas Hilton Theater Friday to debate the challenge and direction of keeping America at the forefront of global innovation.

All four expressed a tone of optimism but nervousness, and urged sea changes in national priorities, particularly in education, free trade and government policies.

Shapiro, armed with a patriotic CEA advocacy video (available on the The Innovation Movement site), focused in reducing government intervention and improving the health of the US education system.

All CEOs urged renewed focus on education. Chambers called the K-12 system “broken,” but praised US universities as the “finest in the world.” Burns pointed to the science and technology goals supported by CEO led and Obama-endorsed “Change the Equation” initiative.

The group lobbied for changes in export, tax, immigration, and free trade policies.

The CEOs provided examples of the new environment of collaboration across industry lines, as well as making a call for new public/private partnerships.

Immelt noted in the wrap-up, the “state of innovation is good, but the rest of the world is moving faster than we are,” and cited the CES convention as a microcosm of that. “The speed of innovation does not match our decision process … if you are one year behind at this show, you’re toast.”