Innovations are a source of soft power. At a time of an unprecedented economic recession, soft power fueled by innovations remains America's greatest competitive advantage...The US experience suggests the way China has transformed itself into a new superpower will not be possible without building up its soft power that provides fertile ground for innovative products.

Today, government and private sector leaders gathered at the White House to highlight progress in answering President Obama’s call to use science, technology and innovation to promote global development.

The U.S. government’s public diplomacy institutions are running on autopilot. While other nations, such as China, are ramping up public diplomacy and soft-power capabilities, the attention of the political leaders in this country is focused elsewhere: the budget deficit, the economy, the presidential election, etc.

We formed The Water Initiative (TWI) because the global water crises requires local, customized solutions. TWI co-creates customized and sustainable drinking water solutions through innovative partnerships with municipalities, businesses and local micro-entrepreneurs in developing and developed countries.

The Australian screen industry is extending its reach into the USA, following a new International Engagement Program...with G'Day USA...which seeks to strengthen trade, investment, business, innovation and cultural relations between Australia and the United States.

Teaming up with the Gates Foundation isn't just a charitable move on the part of the Chinese government. The partnership is a perfect example of soft power--the spreading of influence through propaganda, public works, and cultural prestige.

The most innovative thing about the Department of State’s “Apps4Africa” public diplomacy project isn’t the immediate outcome—small cash prizes for the best mobile phone applications—but the process.

Officially, the ‘i’ stood for “Internet”. To many, it also represented the product’s focus as a personal device — ‘i’ for “individual”. The ‘i’ can also stand for innovative, iconoclastic and ‘insanely great’, a favourite phrase of Jobs’ to describe his products. And, we might add: impatient, impetuous and irreverent. All attributes that made Jobs a culture-changing force, and a fine example of American soft power in action.