Conference Agenda

DRAFT

Driving the Next 20 Years:
Creating the New Automotive Industry in the South

Confirmed Sessions

• Governors’ Panel
  Southern governors discuss issues and answer questions about the automotive industry in the South.

• CEO Panel
  Key leaders of automotive companies in the South discuss issues important to them and strategies to address them.

• The Southern Automotive Industry: Facts and Figures
  A presentation of data trends about the industry, conducted by Dr. David Altig, senior vice president and director of research at the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta.

• The Southern Automotive Industry within a National Context
  America’s “Car Czar”—Dr. Ed Montgomery, Director of the U.S. Office of Recovery for Auto Communities and Workers (invited)

Potential Sessions for Discussion

• Domestic Cars and Domestic Parts
  • U.S. cars: Where do the parts originate?
  • International issues

• Southern Automotive R&D
  • What prompts R&D location?
  • Southern strengths and weaknesses
  • Increasing R&D investment

• Workforce: Issues
  • Costs and skills within U.S.
  • Costs and skills outside U.S.

• Workforce: Solutions
  • Federal/state/local collaboration

• Building cars for the world
  • Increasing investment, domestic and foreign
  • Increasing exports

• The Role of Parts Suppliers
  • Is there a shortage of Southern suppliers?
  • Impacts of consolidation

• Improving Business Climate
  • Energy requirements
  • Infrastructure improvements
  • Incentives

• Creating an Automotive Culture of Innovation
  • The importance of innovation
  • Creating an innovative region for automotive