- Publisher
- W.W. Norton & Company
- Publication
- February 2, 2027
- Pages
- 288
- ISBN
- 978-1-324-12361-3
LEAPFROG
What It Will Take to Win the Global Innovation War
The United States once defined the future of technology, from jets and nuclear energy to computer chips and the internet. Today, we have been leapfrogged as China has bet big and bet early on the technologies of the future. From cars and batteries to robotics and synthetic biology, America’s leadership has been lost or imperiled.
Blinkered by envy and hamstrung by risk aversion, Washington’s answer has been to pour billions into vain attempts to catch up in industries where it’s too late to lead—chasing electric vehicles instead of autonomous ones, solar panels rather than next-generation nuclear or advanced robotics. This copycat approach is doomed to fail. The country’s economic future and national security depend on whether we can change course.
Leapfrog argues that the only way for America to win is to invent and lead the industries of the future, building frontier technologies no rival can match. We need to relearn to take risk on emerging innovations and go after them before it’s too late. When you’ve been leapfrogged, the only option is to leapfrog back.
A former White House official and now a venture capitalist on the front lines of innovation, Josh Zoffer takes readers inside D.C.’s halls of power and Silicon Valley’s start-ups to pull back the curtain on how global technology competition really works at the highest levels of government and industry. Leapfrog explains why the U.S. has fallen behind in so many areas and what frontier innovations and industries we need to pursue today to turn things around.
With illuminating diagnoses and provocative prescriptions for policymakers, businesses, and innovators, Leapfrog makes the urgent case for rediscovering America’s techno-industrial dynamism.
Pre-order
Hardcover, ebook, and audiobook.
Praise
“In a sweeping and inspiring study of a century of technological competition, Josh Zoffer argues the only hope for the US to regain the initiative is to leapfrog China, not to be a copycat. Based on the author’s high-flying experience in government and venture capital, Leapfrog also benefits from Zoffer’s keen understanding of the last time America leapfrogged the competition—starting nearly a century ago. We can do it again, says Zoffer.”
— Niall Ferguson, author of The Square and the Tower and Doom
“A highly persuasive road map for reigniting the moonshot engine that is critical to keeping America at the forefront of innovation. Leapfrog is a valuable manual detailing how Washington and Silicon Valley can collaborate to fund, build, and scale the technologies that will secure democratic values and ensure our competitive edge.”
— Eric Schmidt, KBE, former chairman and CEO of Google
“America’s relationship with technology is off track. On the left, big tech is demonized. On the right, there is too much impatience with the catalytic role that government should play. Josh Zoffer is too smart to be captured by either pole of this discussion. The leapfrog strategy that Zoffer proposes—an industrial policy that counters China’s willingness to invest in the potential platforms of the future—is a must read for both sides of the political spectrum.”
— Sebastian Mallaby, author of The Infinity Machine and The Power Law
“In Leapfrog, Josh Zoffer explains how America built its lead in technology—and what it will take to guarantee this lead for decades to come. Essential reading for understanding the technologies that will define the future.”
— Chris Miller, author of Chip War
“Josh Zoffer convincingly argues that no nation in 250 years has reversed its own deindustrialization—and that America must be the first. . . . A gripping read and a necessary intervention in an urgent debate.”
— Patrick McGee, author of Apple in China